Our human condition lends itself to staying in comfort zones.   We like the familiar.  We don't handle change too well.  I am a creature of routine.   Perhaps we all are.  But those of us who rate high "J" on the Myers-Briggs Temperament Profile have a high propensity to structure, routine and closure.   Closure and things like written lists give us a sense of control in life (psuedo though it may be).   If I am to be spontaneous, and open to change, then I will write "be spontaneous" on my list.

One of the inevitable downsides to being overly structured and unwilling to shake routine, thereby attempting to avoid change, is that it stunts growth.   No stretch, no growth.  No resistance, no strengthening.  I read some time back an interview with a young man who dives for exotic fish for aquariums.  He said one of the most popular aquarium fish is the shark.   He explained that if you catch a small shark and confine it, it will stay a size proportionate to the aquarium.  Sharks can be six inches long yet fully matured.   But if you turn them loose in the ocean, they grow to their normal length of six to eight feet.

That can happen to us in life too.   Perhaps you've seen the cutest little six-inch Christians who swim around in the same, comfortable, small puddle.   Yet, if these same believers reach out into a larger arena, into the whole world, only then do they truly grow and promote Christ and His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.