Embracing Spiritual Transformations

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.”

~Romans 12:2a (NRSV)

Why on earth do we subject ourselves to change? The reasons are simple.

The pressure for change, that which compels us to change, to be transformed, outweighs the pressure of comfort to stay as we are. Only when we stand to gain more through changing do we embrace it. Only when all we can do to survive is change do we take change on. Whoever changed simply for the sake of it?

Becoming Transformed

The odds are that those who read this have been transformed, or are becoming transformed. Having chosen movement in preference to remaining static, when we embrace transformation, allowing our minds to be flexibly renewed, we have agreed with the notion of life that cannot be sensibly argued with.

Either we become transformed and devote ourselves to ongoing transformations, or we become staid in our approach to life, and this is because our thinking has burrowed into a ‘safe’ rut. Risk-free is not the spiritual place to be.

The healthiest of people devote themselves to being flexibly open regarding transformation. It is the will to learn, to grow, and to blossom into the person they are becoming. And becomingness is the great task of life. We may be one of many things, but we are more truly several versions of the one thing. Our lives are dynamic.

Achieving Change

Perhaps the greatest of freedoms is our commitment to change, which is an eternity beyond feeling forced to change. No one likes being forced to change, for that is prison-like, but taking an active role in reinventing ourselves is both creativity and expansion.

But even when we’re forced to change, we can decide, of ourselves, to take charge. This is our life after all. We’re victims in none of it where we retain some control.

Learning to embrace the changes foisted upon us is the greatest test of our humble maturity. And if we can embrace such change, we make any and every situation positively changeable. And if we can embrace every change, despite the pain we experience, nothing can beat us.

Our ability to accept change, and to absorb pressures for change, is a testimony so powerful it will inspire other people. That’s how we achieve change in a world that hates change.

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Taking a course of change is taking control of everything within our grasp. It’s all God asks of us—to take responsibility for our lives. This is achieved when we take opportunities for change and make them our own.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.