Three thoughts on transformation

Beautiful calla lilies grow everywhere in the Bay area of California. Having had a failed attemptt at growing these beauties in a pot years back, I was stunned that they cover the place. This is what my friend Laura called the "trinity of calla lilies" in the garden at Mission Santa Clara.

To go along with these three beauties, I am picking three beautiful experiences of transformation from my Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation week retreat.

1. Words, especially God's word, have the ability to wallpaper our mind. Have you ever taken down wallpaper? It is not for light weights or for those who do not have huge motivation to have it done. This is not the kind of job you invite your friends over to help with...it may be worse than asking them to help you move...it is not the way to make and keep friends. Words stick to us and if we are seriously intending to learn the way of Jesus, we will ask for his help in stripping the wall paper of our minds that may include many ugly and even stinky things like shame, self-doubt, or even twisted thoughts about God. Speaking from personal experience, I have very recently allowed such stinky thoughts as "God is punishing me"...."God is forcing me to do this" (among the very stinky wall paper thoughts that had hung in there for most of my life) to be stripped away. These thought are now so far from my mind that I can hardly even retrieve them here to write them. This stripping is all God's doing and it is accomplished by the power of His word. (Yet, you and I do have to be open to it and willing to follow His lead in doing it) His word is what transforms our minds. Now, I like to imagine the wallpaper of my mind being very flowery and with lots of bright colors, maybe even tie-dyed with the beautiful things of God: love, joy, peace, hope, etc...

2. There was an elderly gentleman in the airport talking on a cell phone. From what I can gather, he was talking to a significant other perhaps wife. He talked about the week he had spent with his son and their family. With tears in his eyes and a catch in his throat, he said that his son had not spent more than a few minutes with the rest of the family all week. He then talked about his grandchildren and that spending so much time with them make him "re-think his whole life." The sweet delight of those children seemed to bring this man to openness...perhaps, even transformation, if he so chooses.


3. The "end game" for us and for church is to live everywhere in the power and character of Christ. I look around at the people that gathered with me hearing such fantastic messages and allow my imagination paint a picture of their life outside our two weeks a year together at retreat. I love imagining my friend the architect living in the power and character of Christ as he meets with his clients. I love imagining my friend who stays at home raising a 3 and 1 year old, she is chasing them, praying as she goes, training them in the things of toilets and respect for one another and all the while doing it in the power and character of Christ. I imagine my friend the judge putting on his robe and reciting scripture about being clothed with Christ and know how every single person that stands before him that day will be seen as they are: unceasing spiritual beings with an eternal destiny in God's great universe. I celebrate that I can share this journey in transformation with such beautiful people.

Growing Young by Rich Mullins

I've gone so far from my home
I've seen the world and I have known
So many secrets
I wish now I did not know
'Cause they have crept into my heart
They have left it cold and dark
And bleeding,
Bleeding and falling apart

And everybody used to tell me big boys don't cry
Well I've been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
Well we are children no more, we have sinned and grown old
And our Father still waits and He watches down the road
To see the crying boys come running back to His arms
And be growing young
Growing young

I've seen silver turn to dross
Seen the very best there ever was
And I'll tell you, it ain't worth what it costs
And I remember my father's house
What I wouldn't give right now
Just to see him and hear him tell me that he loves me so much

And everybody used to tell me big boys don't cry
Well I've been around enough to know that that was the lie
That held back the tears in the eyes of a thousand prodigal sons
Well we are children no more, we have sinned and grown old
And our Father still waits and He watches down the road
To see the crying boys come running back to His arms

And when I thought that I was all alone
It was your voice I heard calling me back home
And I wonder now Lord
What it was that made me wait so long
And what kept You waiting for me all that time
Was Your love stronger than my foolish pride
Will You take me back now, take me back and let me be Your child

'Cause I've been broken now, I've been saved
I've learned to cry, and I've learned how to pray
And I'm learning