Transform

Transform

The one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!”

EVERY YEAR MY FAMILY GOES to Madeline Island on Lake Superior in Wisconsin. We rent a house on the lake and spend our days in the water and on the beach. For several hours we walk up and down the shores picking out our favorite rocks. Much to my husband’s chagrin and warning that this year we won’t be taking many home with us, we usually end up with a few bucketfuls of rocks. They’re just so beautiful we can’t part with them.

As I admire the rocks each year when we return home, I think about what God has taught me about transformation through our rock collecting. I’ve noticed that the ones that are the smoothest have been tossed in the waves. All their rough edges have been worn away by the constant friction. I’ve also realized that the submerged rocks are often the most beautiful. They are the ones that glisten and shine in the sun. They’ve been transformed by the constant friction—distinctly different from the rocks tucked further up on the shore that have never been tossed by the waves, never had anything to rub off their rough edges or submerge them at all. They are the ones that are dull and harsh, with no defining characteristics from any of the other rocks around them. They are the ones that get left on the shore.

As I think about the transformation of these rocks over time, I realize it’s true for people as well.

God often uses the harder things we walk through in life to transform us. The grittier parts of life that rub off our rough edges. To change us from dull into something that is soft and beautiful. Others notice and are drawn to us. We can miss what God is doing because we hate the struggle, and often we don’t see that his beauty is magnified in these places. But if we’re willing to allow God to transform us, he will make us new.

Lord, thank you that you do not leave us the same but continue to transform us over time. Amen.

-Kendra

One Good Step: Think about one way God has used a life circumstance to transform you in the past. How can you remember that for the current transformation you are going through in your life?