"It's not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What's important is that God makes the seed grow." 1 Corinthians 3:7

I deliver chunky babies. While I don't plan to birth any more babies, I have truly enjoyed hearing the nurses and doctors gasp as they weighed each of my children shortly after their arrival. My second baby tipped the scale at 8lbs 9ozs, and the last three have all broken the 9lb mark.

Most of my children tracked along the 90th percentile or better on growth charts well into their toddler years. However, over the past six months I've watched my youngest child drop from the 98th percentile in height and weight down to the 40th percentile. Matching the weight of 40% of babies your age is good, mind you. But my son had essentially stopped growing. He failed to gain a single ounce or grow a single inch in over six months. Doctors hesitated to label my son as a "failure to thrive" baby since he continued to develop physically and since he still looked healthy with all those fat rolls. But this past Friday was the deadline. If my son failed to gain weight yet again, a blanket of testing would begin.

I did all I could. I've fed that boy with as many fatty, high calorie foods that he would take. Dairy (which he couldn't tolerate until he turned one), peanut butter, avocado, bread. I allowed him to eat as much as his little heart desired.

But ultimately I can't make him grow. The growing is up to God. So along with preparing his meals, my family and I prayed that God would use that food to help my son grow.

And God did.

This past Friday my son weighed in 1lb 2ozs heavier than he did six weeks ago. He's fine. No testing needed. Praise God!

Throughout the experience with my son I've though about how the same growth pattern holds true in our relationship with God. We must feed ourselves with the Word of God. No food, no growth. And just as babies must first start with milk before learning to tolerate big chunks of meat, it's okay if we must start out with smaller portions of Scripture. Our spiritual pallet will learn to tolerate meatier chunks of Scripture. But if we ever hope to grow we must first feed ourselves. Then we ask the God of Heaven to use that food, as well as our life experiences to grow us into the child He planned us to be.

Babies are cute but they're also a lot of work! As parents we want our children to grow so that they can learn and do new things. It's the same way with God. God doesn't want us to stay babies forever. He wants us to grow in Him so that we can learn about Him and do the things He planned for us long ago.

Has your growth stunted? It's never too late. Serve yourself a daily portion of Scripture. Pour yourself a Big Gulp of Living Water and drink it down. And God will help you grow.