I collect images like this one because I teach and think and write about Christian spiritual formation.
If you are a disciple of Jesus, you will grow. You will change. You won’t always like it.
Some things that need to go won’t go easily.
Some truths that need to be learned won’t come cheap.
Sometimes God will lead you to green pastures and quiet waters. Sometimes God will walk with you through the darkest valley.
Sometimes you’ll be scrubbed clean, and like a child at bath time, you’ll scream your way through. At the end, you might say, “I didn’t like it, but it’s an improvement.”
Sometimes you’ll be plunged into a furnace, and as the dross melts, you’ll wonder if you’ll survive, then find yourself recast into something more beautiful and more pure, more like fine gold or precious silver.
Embrace the truth that growth requires that, from time to time, comfort will have to go.
