Living a Transformational Life

Recently, I have tried to take a step back and look at the transformations that are occurring all around me.  I am seeing my seventeen year old now as a young adult making choices for herself, that used to be part of our role as parents.  At work, I see the decisions of last years organizational shifts starting to solidify.  I look in the mirror and see the grey hairs of wisdom where youthful ignorance used to be. My pastor described transformation as a deep changing of the mind, body, and soul to be more like Christ.  The more I dwell upon that definition, the more I think about some of the core elements of our metamorphosis as individuals.

Transformation is always moving forward

• A frog never turns back into a tadpole, nor a butterfly back into a caterpillar.  The whole purpose of transformation is to learn, grow, and morph into beauty, efficiency, and the uniqueness that God has made for your life.
• The process of transformation is always looking ahead towards the vision or goal it is trying to achieve.  The more clarity the easier it is to understand the incremental changes that allow transformation to happen
• It is not a constant steady pace.  Sometimes the changes come in huge spurts with lots of room for growth.  Other times, it may seem like no change is happening, but like the water rolling through creeks and rivers, new ways are carved.  Sometimes the surroundings change and force transformation even faster.

3 ways to speed up transformation

1. Give up control to those who are making the changes.  Focus on helping the change agents achieve their objective.  Sometimes people are abrasive and want to control or restrict the flow of changes. This could lead to a lot of churn and struggle to transform.
2. Persevere through the changes.  Many times it takes the persistence and determination to follow new processes, procedures, or implement new habits.
3. Remove any obstacle that may block the changes from happening.  Be aggressive, take a few risks.  As long as you know the end outcome of the transformation, it will be worth it to come in with changes on a clean runway.

Summary

Transformation occurs throughout our lifetime.  We have a choice on how we deal with it.  For my personal transformation to become more like Christ, it is a reasonable service to:

1. Accept His Love
2. Build a long lasting relationship with Christ
3. Learn to love unconditionally.

I am sure that I will be transforming for the rest of my life.  How about you?