MORPHED
What do caterpillars, tadpoles, clay and you all have in common? All undergo a metamorphosis. In short, all are "morphed." When we grow as Christians, we are all like caterpillars leaving their cocoons to fly on their own as beautiful butterflies. Each of us is like clay being shaped and molded into a "dish." We are like tadpoles leaving the water to change into toads. (Okay, maybe that illustration isn't such a pleasant one.) Like the caterpillar, clay and tadpole, our lives are changing in every way. Even our appearance is changing while we mature spiritually.
Changes are sometimes scary. I know; I've gone through many myself in my lifetime. But have no fear. When you allow the Holy Spirit to help you make transformations in life, you will be the best you can be. God has a plan for your life. Jeremiah 19:11-13 encourages us with these words: " 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.'"
Maybe you have deep scars from life through no fault of your own, or because of your own poor decisions. Your life may be marred by sin and strife, but God can reshape your life and make it into something useful and beautiful, like the potter does the clay pot. The book of Jeremiah gives us that example: "But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands, so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as it seemed best to him (18:4).
It is difficult at times for one to appreciate changes in life, especially when the focus is on the past. But Isaiah 43:18-19a challenges us to "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?"
Our plans are not God's plans and our ways are not His ways. You may have your life all sketched out in your mind, but God may wish to color and shape your life in a completely different way. Who do you trust as being the potter with the most skill -- yourself or God?
I, for one, am a marred pot in the potter's hands, in the process of being reshaped and molded. It is both scary and exciting. God does not shape His pots on an assembly line. No two pots are the same. No two butterflies are the same. No two toads...never mind.
Your life is different than mine. Your scars are different than mine. But the metamorphosis is the most perfect and complete when the master designer is God. So, be prepared to "morph."
--Becky L. Wall
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. II Cor. 3:18
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
