Our Transformation

Have you heard the story about the blacksmith? He sits down to decide  what he wants to create. Whatever he makes, it is always one-of-a kind. Then he has to prepare the fire. He adds the coal, and uses the blower to breathe oxygen into the fire to bring it to the temperature he needs. Next he puts the metal into the depth of the fire. He also watches the color of the metal to tell when it is ready to be worked. Once the metal reaches the temperature he wants, he takes it out of the fire and puts it on the anvil, he lifts the hammer and starts to pound the metal to give way to the shape it’s intended to be. But a blacksmith doesn’t just bang away at the metal. It is often a very gentle and intentional strike of the hammer to create the desired effect. This process is repeated many times before the desired shape occurs. Depending on the use of the formed metal, a wax coating may be added after it is allowed to cool and then rubbed in to bring out the color of the steel and bring a soft luster to the finish. It’s a long process and it’s not easy, it takes work, but in the end the product is perfect. Just as the blacksmith had imagined his creation. 

And just like the metal that goes through the fire and is transformed into a beautiful piece of art, so are we transformed when we go through the fires in our lives. The pain, gently and sometimes not so gently, shapes us. We must learn to surrender to the difficulties that we face. To look at pain as necessary to create the change within us. 

Reflect on this today: You are right where you need to be. You are going right where you need to go. You are becoming who you were meant to become. There are great things coming your way. Just hold on. You WILL find them.