Book excerpt: ÒFaith development cannot be divided into components. Rather it can be likened to the growth of a plant: seed, root, stem, leaf, bud, bloom. Each step happens in sequence, yet all are dependent on the earlier and continuing phases. All phases are the plant; the bloom is no more the plant than are the leaves or roots. So it is with faith: all phases are faith. Yet there is a distinct pattern of development.Ó --from Chapter 1