I have been re-reading Good to Great by Jim Collins. It is certainly on the list of books worth re-reading and that should be read from time to time. This time around I am struck by the excellence of the analogy of the fly wheel. He describes the word whole work of any great organization as the consistent turning of a fly wheel in the same direction. As great organizations turn the fly wheel over and over again consistently, momentum is created and great things happen.
The analogy of the fly wheel can be applied to just about if not all worthy endeavors in life. Recently, I have been thinking it is the perfect analogy for spiritual growth. We human beings are so scarred from original sin. We are so far from who we should be. I think God in his mercy hides this fact from us because if we saw how corrupt and immature we are, we would be overwhelmed by our corruption. (I guess I sound like an Augustinian). We are far from where we need to be, but our transformation comes from continually turning the fly wheel.
It is my tendency to look for huge changes in my life. I swing for the fences, try to throw a Hail Mary pass, look for the silver bullet (just to mix metaphors even more). I don’t think I’m alone. When it comes to spiritual growth and transformation, it doesn’t suit us to look for huge changes. God’s way of changing us is more like Collins’ fly wheel. By the power of his grace and his grace working in us, we just keep turning the fly wheel and turning the fly wheel and turning the fly wheel some more and change will happen over time. We tweak little by little and move in the direction God calls us to go.
This approach to spiritual growth is in some ways more difficult. It means that today, there is some way that God wants you and me to change. It might be a little change. It might mean giving away a small amount of money. It may mean apologizing to someone. It may mean swallowing our pride and making amends in a relationship, even though we did nothing wrong. Dallas Willard advises that the best thing we can do for our spiritual growth is to simply take the next step we know God is calling us to take. How simple and yet how challenging. And yet how accessible. Our transformation into a Christ like character is not so high in the sky we can’t reach it, but very accessible to us. And over time if we will keep turning the fly wheel and turning the fly wheel our sin stained, corrupted, selfish, bratty characters will be changed into the image of God’s Son.
I had a mentor say to me once, “You overestimate what you can do in one year and underestimate what you can do in five years.” Imagine a life time of turning the fly wheel of spiritual growth and simply taking the next step God is calling us to take. Howe changed we would be. How changed the world would be.
What’s your next step of spiritual growth? What is God calling you to do today?
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