Professional Development for Marriage

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. —2 Corinthians 3:18, NIV

For over thirty years, I was involved in education at various levels. I taught in public schools and in Adventist church schools, including one-teacher schools and at the academy level. I also taught education classes at a self-supporting college.

During all those years, the one thing that remained consistent was the need to grow—to learn and be prepared to be my best at whatever I did.

As part of that growth experience, I attended professional development (PD) classes. Following the death of my husband of twenty-nine years from COVID-19, I met and married Jim. He had come from a very unpleasant divorce, while I, on the other hand, came from a long life of relative peace in my marriage. All marriages require adjustment, regardless of age and circumstances, and for us, it became apparent that we had a lot of growing to do. I discovered a number of excellent videos on YouTube produced by Focus on the Family.

These videos covered essential topics for helping produce a thriving marriage. As I watched them and even got my husband to watch some with me, I realized I was basically doing professional development for marriage. Professional development is essential not only for teachers and married couples but also for Christians.

While professionals in the field of education conduct the PD for educators and professionals in marriage counseling share their expertise on marriage, who do we look to for our PD on becoming better Christians? I think we all agree with 2 Corinthians 3:18 that beholding Christ is the best way to become more like Him. Unless we actively pursue personal time with God and spend time in His Word, we will never grow. It is not enough to want to become more Christlike if our eyes are not focused on Christ moment by moment.

It is not enough to pursue wishful thinking.

We have to actively pursue beholding Christ.

There are wonderful resources available for watering the garden of our spiritual life. These can serve as our PD for becoming the Christians God wants us to be.

I pray we will take 2 Corinthians 3:18 to heart and be intentional in our desire to be like Christ.

Sharon (Clark) Mills