Preservation or transformation, which do you lean toward? Like it or not, many of us focus on preservation. It is safer, expectations and outcomes clear, patterns are established, and I know how to function. Put the quarter in and the gum ball comes out, every time, on cue, as expected. I know what to expect and it rarely, if ever, fails.
Transformation is quite different…. Usually equates to some unknowns…. Unfamiliar environments, uncertain outcomes, not a guaranteed result and the cost may outweigh the perceived immediate benefits. But transformation is what we have been created for. To continue to be transformed requires a renewing of our mind and very often a different environment.
An acorn can sit on my desk for years and never fulfill its potential. Not because it doesn’t have one but because the environment isn’t conducive to bringing out what is on the inside. For it to fulfill its God given potential it needs to be placed in an environment that will cause it to grow. It has to get in the dirt, the difficult, the dark, so that it can be transformed into a seedling that will reach for the light and stretch out life to its full potential.
Maybe what you need to grow right now is just a different environment. Don’t try and preserve what is safe, secure, and convenient, give yourself to something more challenging and in doing so your roots will dig deep so that your branches may grow wide. The first step in changing your environment is changing the way you think. And that is where His word comes in.
Rom 12:2
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (NLT)
Preservation or Transformation? I guarantee the transformation choice is a lot more risky but the payoff, in the long run, is so much more rewarding!
D.O.V.E.