The Three Stages of Growth

Lesson Objective: Understand the three stages of growth and their translation to life experiences.

Divine Principle Reading:

The universe unfolds and manifests God’s original internal nature and original external form based on mathematical principles. Hence, we can infer that one aspect of God’s nature is mathematical. God is the one absolute reality in whom the dual characteristics interact in harmony; therefore, He is a Being of the number three. All created beings, having been conceived in the likeness of God, manifest their existence, movement and growth through a course of three stages.

Accordingly, everything reaches perfection by passing through three ordered stages of growth: the formation stage, the growth stage and the completion stage.

Human beings could not fulfill the purpose of their existence because they fell without completing the three stages of the growing period. Hence, in their renewed efforts to realize their purpose, human beings must pass through these three stages.

Activity: The Process of Growth

1. Explain:

  • God is a mathematical being and the creation functions according to such laws.
  • God is a being of the number Three; the examples are endless!
  • All created beings grow through a course of 3 stages: Formation, Growth and Completion.

2. Split the youth into small groups and have them brainstorm examples of the number three in creation. See who can come up with the most unique examples. Here are some ideas to start you off:

  • The Three Kingdoms: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral
  • Three States of Matter: Gas, Liquid, Solid
  • Three Primary Colors: Red, Green, Blue
  • Stability is made by 3 legs of a stool
  • Three Sacrifices of Abraham
  • The Holy Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit
  • Three Decks of Noah’s Ark
  • Three Wise Men
  • The Life of Human Beings: Mother’s Womb, Physical World, Spirit World

3. Ask the youth to reflect on their moments of growth:

  • Think about the moments in your life that shaped you into the person you are today.
    1. Try to come up with at least 6.
    2. Give some examples from your personal life.
  • Write down one sentence on a small piece of paper to represent each of these moments.

4. Separate these moments into:

  • Formation Stage: moments occurring before entering your teens
  • Growth Stage: moments occurring after you entered your teens

5. Ask the youth to reflect on their goals for the next 10 years and write them down on slips of paper.

  • Try to come up with at least 3.
  • Give some examples from your personal life.

6. Create your stages of growth!

  • Make a 3 tier growth container:
    1. If you are feeling creative you can google some ideas for DIY piggy banks and boxes.
    2. For the simplest method, give each person 3 small envelopes:
      • Cut out a piggy-bank-type-hole on the top of each envelope.
      • Seal the lips of the envelopes.
      • Tape or attach the three envelopes together so they form one object with three sections.
      • Label each section in order: Formation, Growth, and Completion.
    3. Place the corresponding growth moments in their sections and the goals in the completion section.

7. Have each person share one growth moment/goal from each section with the rest of the group.

 

Concluding Point: Our lives are of full of moments of transformation and change. These moments of growth make up the three orderly stages of growth which God set up for all of creation.

section-fiveManish Saluja