The Year of Explosive Growth

Whatever didn't happen in 2018 let go of it and press on to believe that 2019 will be the year that you will see explosive growth for every seed that you have planted and toiled over.

Sometimes in life we can toil and labor and yet it feels as if we don't see the fruit of our hard work, and then doubt can set in and we begin to wonder if our labor has been in vain. But, we have to remind ourselves that if we will keep forging ahead, that eventually those doors have to open to us, and the longer you have to wait, the more explosive the growth will be.

When a Chinese Bamboo Tree is planted it takes a lot of nurturing and care. On a regular basis it has to be watered. It has to have fertile soil and it needs lots of sunshine. However, in the first year the growth is hardly even visible. Then comes the second year, and once again the tree needs tended to with water, sunshine and fertile soil, but still hardly any growth.

The same thing for the third year. All this work and hardly any growth. Then comes the fourth year and the owner has to tend to this tree giving it water, making sure the soil is fertile and that the tree receives enough sunshine, and yet still after four years of continuous work there is hardly any growth.

Most people at this point would quit watering and tending to the tree because they would feel it's a waste of time, but they would just miss out on all the fruit of their labor because in the fifth year the Chinese Bamboo Tree grows over 80 feet tall within a matter of weeks.

Now imagine if a neighbor saw this tree sprout up this quickly and decided to grow a tree of their own without knowing that their neighbor tended to the tree for over four years before it ever grew. After three or four months the neighbor would begin to think either there was something wrong with the seed that they bought or come to the conclusion that they can't grow this tree.

Oftentimes, this is what we do when we see other people's success. We see their "overnight" growth without realizing they've spent years behind closed doors toiling with no one noticing and little to nothing in return for all their hard work. Then we go out and try to do the same thing and after trying for three months with no success we get discouraged and assume we aren't qualified enough to do it. But if only we could realize that successful people often fail their way there many times first.

The wildly successful J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, was rejected 12 times and she was told "not to quit her day job" by publishers before Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was ever published.

Eddie Arcaro, a famous jockey, lost 250 races before he ever won his first race. He went on to win more races than any other jockey and was the only American to win the U.S. Triple Crown twice, earning over $30 million in his career.

Sometimes the wins don't come right away, but if we have patience and stay at it the rewards will come. This is what I am believing for in 2019. So whatever disappointments or lack of growth happened this past year I want you to meditate and declare this word over you for 2019.

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." - Isaiah 43:18-19

Here's to a Happy New Year and explosive growth in 2019!