willing to grow?

I was in Bible Study and we just began a study on the spiritual disciplines. We studied the aspect of fasting. Through this study there is something that really hit me, which is the idea with the spiritual disciplines, there is an anticipation for something. Through such disciplines as fasting, we are going and meeting God so that we can be made into His image. Through these anticipations, we can anticipate such things as commune with God, forgiveness, prayer/intercession for others.

The connection that I came up with is during my devotional time tonight is I was reading in Luke 6 about the good and bad fruit, and how a good tree can not produce bad fruit or a bad tree produce good fruit. The connection to the spiritual disciplines is that I grew up on the farm. From time to time each hay field needs to be plowed up so fresh air, rain and fertilizer can be appllied to the soil so it can be fuitful for the farmer. If the farmer does not do this, the hay field does not produce as much as it should even maybe even become barren. It is not a bad field just not up to its potental. I feel that this is the same way with our Christian life and the spiritual disciplines. Without the tilling of our spiritual lives, we can become rather barren and do not produce as much as we should. The only way to promote true growth is through being broken