It is not often that our children are home with us. But when they are, we have a lot of fun—talking, laughing, and taking a lot of photographs. While looking at some of those pictures taken recently, it suddenly dawned on me that my children are no longer growing up. They are now grown! Our daughter is in her 20s, and our son legally becomes an adult next month.

Pondering my children’s physical and mental maturation, and how the years have flown by during these periods of growth, I wondered how God sees my spiritual growth. Does He see for what I am now? Does He see me for what I will be? Or can He see me as both? I often recognize the warts of my character; but I take joy that “what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2, NIV.)