Then...and...Now

So this weekend I get to home. It's been a long time, I was 22 for most of my last visit, translated that means that I haven't been home since June. I'm looking forward to it, but something struck me the other day while I was driving. I don't know if its the wanna-be preacher in me that is constantly looking for an illustration or what but you shouldn't be surprised to hear me say this again.
What struck me as odd was that suddenly all at once I noticed how "built up" Lexington has become. I've been down here for almost four years now and the place has exploded. What I find odd though is how it snuck up on me. For instance the other day I was driving my normal drive home from work and I noticed this huge steel frame building being constructed. This frame didn't just suddenly appear out of nowhere, no it has been assembled for months.
Here's the kicker. Whenever I go home after being away for a while I am flambasted by how developed Lafayette has become. Lafayette is my hometown and is quite rural, but never the less, its exploding. Now the growth is really not all that different between the two towns, they are relatively the same size, but I don't see the constant every day growth of Lafayette. When I go home I just see the product of a month's or even a year's worth of work. I don't necessarily see drastic change taking place in Lexington because of the slow and steady work that I live around every day.
All of you clever people out there are like, "Oooo I know where he's going", and that's fine, I'm really not all that clever, but I think that often there are times in my life where I don't feel like I'm growing, I feel stagnant, but that's because I'm comparing today to yesterday. Chances are there hasn't been a lot of change. Maybe we should start looking back to where we haven't been for a while. Where was I last year at this time? Something I learned while in college is that God grows things. He really is in no hurry. I think we need to take a look at back THEN before we can appreciate right NOW.