As Americans, we are almost addicted to dramatic, sweeping change. In the popular 2000's reality show The Biggest Loser, overweight contestants competed for 30 weeks to win a cash prize by losing the highest percentage of weight. Fitness trainers, Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels put contestants through a fitness regimen that included severe caloric restriction combined with up to six hours a day of strenuous exercise. At the end of each week, they weighed-in to check their progress as the audience watched what seemed to be miraculous transformations in inches, body image, attitude, and life. The show was so popular it lasted for 17 seasons. Critics claimed this type of drastic and immediate change was not healthy for the heart, body, or psyche of the participants. In fact, a 2016 study found that most of that season's 16 contestants regained their weight, and in some case gained more than before they entered the contest.
Change is incremental. Change is small. - Theodore Melfi - Director - Hidden Figures
I don't know about you...but I prefer quick, miraculous fixes and interventions to INCREMENTAL transformations. In mathematics incremental means denoting a small positive or negative change in a variable quantity or function. Whether we're talking about math, diet and exercise, relational, financial, emotional, or spiritual growth...most of our changes are incremental. Some are almost imperceptible. We do not realize we have changed our beliefs or perceptions until they are tested. A similar situation comes along, and because we've learned—the hard way—we respond or react differently than we once did. Incremental change also comes from applied discipline and consistency. Maybe that's why it's hard to engage, see, and celebrate. Athletes, musicians, scientists, and other professionals grow to become great, not by sweeping turns: but with the small adjustments, adaptations, and modifications they make over time.
The Children of Israel were given the promise that God would go before them and drive out the inhabitants of the land they were chosen to possess. The LORD said to Moses in Exodus 23:29-30, "I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land." God knew they weren't ready for what He had promised. Getting it all at once would have destroyed them. The wilderness wanderings refined their character and faith. Incremental changes took place over those 40 years that allowed those who believed to possess what had been promised. Prior to that time, they weren't equipped to fight for or handle God's inheritance. Don't despise the time, discipline, character, and self-mastery incremental change requires. God could be preparing you for your next season! | 
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