Everyone has a Great Aunt Bertha. That might not be her name, but the principle is nearly universal. Great Aunt Bertha is that relative you see only once every few years. And she always says “My, how you’ve grown,” to the children. “That’s funny,” the child thinks, “I don’t feel as though I’ve grown at all.”
The reason for this discrepancy, of course, is that the youngster sees himself in the mirror every day. The changes in his appearance are so gradual that he doesn’t even notice them. But to Great Aunt Bertha, for whom years have passed since they were last together, the differences are dramatic.
Spiritual transformation is similar. God uses the everyday happenings of life to develop within us character traits like love, joy, peace, etc. – called the fruit of the Spirit in the Bible. This process is taking place all the time. The progress is so slow and gradual, however, that we rarely see it in our own lives.
Along comes some situation. We react… and then we notice that our reaction is unlike what it would have been in the past. We’re more spiritually mature in some way.
The reason? Spiritual growth – happening as a result of God’s work in our lives, so slowly that we didn’t even know it was taking place. Only the circumstance, like a visit with Great Aunt Bertha, brings to light what’s been going on in us all along.
Thank God for continuing to develop His character within my spirit and yours, even when we can’t tell He’s doing it.