Continuing the Journey to Maturity

By Tom Albin

 In the last issue of Good News, I wrote an article entitled “Life’s Spiritual Journey to Maturity.” In part 1 of this article, I encouraged you to lay aside the mistaken understanding that the Christian life is an educational journey, like the journey from kindergarten through high school. Instead, I urged you to think of it as natural spiritual process of growth and development. Just as a person is “born” into a physical family and grows through the physical nurture of first milk, and then later “baby food” followed by the solid food need to sustain ongoing life and growth toward maturity—the same is true for us spiritually. When we are “born again” we need our spiritual family to give us the pure milk of the Word and then the “baby food” of initial prayer, meditation, and Bible study. Then, when the time is right, we need solid food, meat instead of milk.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9, the Jewish Shema, prayed every morning and every evening by every orthodox Jewish family from before the time of Jesus until this very day, provides the foundation for all that follows:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (NRSVUE)

Here, spiritual growth and development (i.e. discipleship) is natural and relational. Newborns learn from their parents and family—the language (of prayer) and the attitude (of hope) and the character (of love) and the content (of obedience) through daily living of the spiritual life—not in an academic classroom with an instructor who employs the “lecture/discussion” method. The important insight is that God’s plan for faith formation takes place in the normal course of “family life” and our role as spiritual parents and grandparents is to focus on the heart of our children and grandchildren (v.5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.) We are to do this intentionally (vv. 5-6. “Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.”)

Like the Puritan spirituality that John and Charles Wesley inherited from their parents, Methodists believe that every command of God is a promise. Because God commands it – it is possible! We can keep God’s word in our hearts! We can teach our children and grandchildren to love God with all their heart and soul and might! We can because God commands it – we believe it – and therefore we act on it in joyful obedience!

How do we do this? By allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us – and letting them see us love God with all our heart and soul and might! It is as simple and as difficult as “show and tell” – “live it and share it”.

We know that children learn at their own pace – in relation to their natural curiosity, ability and desire. As parents, we help them learn to walk and talk and feed themselves when they are ready to learn. The same is true in spiritual growth and development. We teach them by our presence and example and practice. The more we grow in our love of God and neighbor, the more they will learn from us! This is good news! This is great news! That is why we need to talk about our spiritual lives and our relationship with God daily, naturally, and joyfully!

As we prepared for this experiment to share our lives with our children and grandchildren in 2024, my wife, Maryle, and I identified seven areas of focus that we believed were essential. We asked our adult children and their spouses to review our plan for a 7-month experiment of intentional life-sharing with our grandchildren and give us feedback to improve it. Then we asked for their permission to invite our grandchildren into this experiment. When we asked if they wanted to engage in this experiment of “doing spiritual life together” – they all agreed to join. Below, you will find these seven areas, each beginning with a simple word that started with the letter “F” to make it easier to remember.

1. Faith. I want to grow my faith, and help others grow their faith as well – through scripture, meditation, and prayer.

2. Family. I want healthy, growing relationships with my family.

3. Friends. I will nurture healthy relationships with others outside my family circle.

4. Fun. I believe the joy of the Lord is my strength, and I will live life joyfully.

5. Finances. I want to be a good steward of all that God entrusts to me.

6. Fitness. My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and I will take good care of it.

7. Flourishing. I want to discover my unique talents and gifts—then use them to bless others and make this world God loves a better place. I will also learn one new life skill each month.

Now that we had the “what” (an intentional plan), we needed the “how”, and the “why”. The “how” question is answered in the family agreement we developed to help each of our grandchildren (ages 10 to 17 at the time we began this experiment) understand what was expected.

Family Agreement

Together we agreed to learn and grow spiritually in the seven areas above.

1. We will complete each mutually agreed action project before the next scheduled session. If all the agreed action projects are not completed before the scheduled session, I understand that I will not receive the agreed compensation.

2. We will meet for a 30–45-minute “report back” session, once each month.

3. We can stop at any time without prejudice or penalty, and we understand that this agreement ends if the action projects are not completed two months in a row.

Tom Albin is the recently retired Dean of The Upper Room Chapel in Nashville. In 1999 he joined the staff of The Upper Room. In that capacity, he led the Prayer Ministry for the UMC General Conferences in 2012, 2016, and the “Day of Prayer” before the 2019 Special Session. He was also part of the prayer effort at the 2024 General Conference in Charlotte.