New Reminders: Transformation

A transformation is a dramatic change in form or appearance.  It can also be an important event like getting married, which might change a woman’s name and represent a change in status, from Miss or Ms. to Mrs. and can signify a change in where and how she will live.  Important events like getting our driver's license or going to college, can cause a transformation in any one’s life. A transformation usually means an exciting, extreme, or even a radical change like, the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a moth or butterfly.  In fact, the butterfly is often used as a symbol for the concept of transformation.

I like to watch home renovation shows on TV.  I especially like the shows that feature teams who take very run-down, deserted houses and transform them from dirty, animal infested shells that have been abandoned and transform them into beautiful, and very welcoming and stylish homes.  

My father had a saying that he used when he heard my mother express her frustration with trying to take an old, well-worn garment and try to save the good parts and sew them into a new coat or dress for me.  He would say, “Well, you know, you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.”  Yet, she almost always literally performed a miraculous transformation.  She was one person who did a lot of repurposing, back before it became popular, to help save the planet.  My mother did it out of necessity, to save the family finances, when there were hard times on the farm.

Personal transformation is when we change aspects of how and who we are, what we do and the life we lead.  It is both the journey – 'I am transforming' – and the destination – 'I am transformed'.  Engaging in personal transformation means a change in our very nature or a change in the heart of who we were.  We experience a transformation of the heart when we receive Jesus Christ as our personal savior.  We become a new creation; “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.  We are born again. “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” 1 Peter 1:23.   To become children of God; “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12.

Through God’s transforming power, and His Grace, we have been transformed from wretched, sinful souls to a loved and loving partner with God for the transformation of the world.