Today’s word is transformation.
Oh, we love a dramatic transformation, don’t we?
We love to see the makeovers,
the houses getting gutted and redesigned,
the sinful soul become clean.
But that’s not often the way transformation works.
Often, it’s a steady, slow unfolding.
It’s moment-by-moment movements,
tiny increments that lead to something.
I often don’t know I’m in the midst of a transformation
until I see myself somewhere, with someone,
doing something, and I’m hit by the bigness of it all.
We do love a dramatic story,
but can’t we also be drawn to the slow and steady surrender?
Can’t we also be drawn to the ways we are changing,
even when we don’t understand it?
I want a transformation that won’t burn out,
that will guide me through this life.
I want a headstone that reads,
she kept transforming
and that was the gift
of it all.
Transformation
Comes in many ways
In the quiet of contemplation
silence
chips away at the false self
revealing the precious
gem of true self
In the violence of trauma
often testing the limits
of what we think we can handle
shaken, confused, unsettled
something new emerges
it may be guarded and shy (that's okay)
but it is wiser
In the tears and pain of healing
some days baby steps
some days leaps
we may not regain what was lost
we find out strength
and possibly a super power
a growing capacity for
compassion, empathy, grace
In the "dirt" of praying
our blindness is removed and
we can see others and the world
with new eyes
our hearts of stone
are softened
we can offer
words of encouragement
and life
hands to help
tear down those things that
oppress and harm
build up
create, comfort, care
Transformation
We experience
continues, intensifies, spreads
from us into
friends, family, society
out into the world.
I want to be transformed
But not yet,
Not really.
What am I waiting for?