How do we handle the challenges that come from within and embrace more effective personal growth when cooperating with God’s Spirit?

If you get to know me very well at all, you’ll know I am a detail person. It is a blessing when I want to experience an event with full sensory delight or when I need to edit a manuscript. It feels like a curse when I notice a tiny troublesome element that distracts me from enjoying everything else or when I review the published draft and see the small mistakes I missed.

Why is it important to notice details? The focused answers range widely, from needing to report a crime and find a suspect…to recommending the supreme restaurant with the best steak due to unique nuances…to pinpointing the root of a medical or relational issue so healing can come. Imagine a surgeon who didn’t care where he reattached the end of your detached tendon or a mother who didn’t pay attention to how much hot sauce she dumped into the casserole for her small children.

But a critical — and often-avoided — area where details need to be accurately and frequently noticed is the area of our personal growth. These details need to be observed and addressed accurately because it is easy to either be overly critical and doubtful of our ability to grow OR too quick with and lenient on ourselves. And they need to be observed and addressed frequently because the greatest positive growth happens with a slow steadiness that brings lasting improvement while the best correction of negative tendancies happens when such things are caught early.

There are several keys to undergird more meaningful noticing in this critical part of our lives, including all areas: the spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional.

We must ask God to help us see what He has already seen. Most people don’t naturally look for all the details or notice them successfully. We gain this skill through training and practice. Who better to train us than the One who has seen everything already? And who better to help us practice this habit than the One who is supremely patient?

We must be discerning when we listen to others. People around us may see things differently or more clearly than we do. So keeping wise company and listening when that company speaks are two very important habits to maintain. At the same time, we are all limited in our humanity, and so we must learn to think carefully about the observations and advice of others, in terms of our own growth.

We must remember that there are still (and will always be) clear lines of right and wrong as well as true measures of what is helpful and harmful. Culture has changed over time, but eternal truth hasn’t. And the latter is what guides us best on this road of holistic learning.

We must desire humility and rejoice in every day where we live to see justice and mercy embrace each other a little more in our lives.