Learning to grow down

“As we age we need to learn how to grow down. Remember when we were children how adults seemed to delight in telling us—quite emphatically at times—to grow up? Sometimes they were impatiently and unrealistically hoping we’d resist the natural inclinations of childhood and conveniently turn into miniature adults. As we grew older, however, the message was really a hope that we would learn to be responsible and live up to our potential—learn how to climb mountains by tackling appropriate foothills first.

As we get older, however, we need to learn the contemplative art of growing down, of letting our roots grow more deeply into those reservoirs of previously untapped Spirit that lie below the surface of our lives. We find similar opportunities awaiting us to let our roots grow more deeply into the depths of our relationships, our communities, and the ‘of God’ dimension of our lives. We are people of depth as well as height, and aging comes as an invitation to resist the temptation to live superficially.”