Thursday, May 29, 2008

Dear God,

I believe you put transformation into my DNA. Whether working on a house that's crying out for transformation or human lives that need a change, I feel invigorated and humbled to participate in the act of transformation.

Repair is what gives me inner joy. Right now I am working on doors that are nearly 200 years old. They've been poked with nails, kicked at the bottom, scraped, beaten and damaged. Because they contain lead paint, I can't sand off the old. It has to remain intact. What I can do is knock off the peeling paint, feather the edges, then add new spackle, filling in all the cracks, holes and scrapes. I let it dry, then sand it, prime it, and paint it with oil paint, sometimes two coats. After drying and hanging it on its hinges, I stand back and look at the transformation. How lovely. Who would guess what lay beneath the spackle and paint?

The door to my own heart is the same. Lots of bruises and scrapes, several holes and cracks all filled in by the carpenter's own hands, the same as the Great Physician. The healing that has taken place has been the act of transformation, your compassionate massaging of a heart broken many times. You have made it work again, its rhythm attempting to follow your own. Amazing! Miraculous!

While I celebrate my own transformation over the years, I give even greater thanks to be able to participate in the lives of others looking for transformation. What joy I feel when I take the hand of a pilgrim, a seeker, a person looking for a new life and lead them. Well, not really, lead them, I simply walk with them as they walk toward you. After all, I have no healing powers. I am not able to do miracle work. I have no ability or capacity to create divine wonders. I just know how to walk toward you and guide others to make the journey.

When I observe a transforming act in another, I celebrate with you your great and lovely work. I see your fingerprints, know your voice, witness your powerful presence. I know who is doing the work and I am indeed so grateful.

The world is full of cracked and damaged doors. For so many reasons our doors are fragile, some even broken off their hinges. What is ministry if not helping to repair each other's doors, the doors to our hearts, our souls, our minds, our memories and every other part of us? We all have tools for healing, for ourselves and others. You have made them for us, created them special. We don't have to stay the way we are. We can be made new.

Transforming God,
how could we
ever heal
without you?
How could we
ever be changed
without your power?
How could we
ever allow ourselves
to be transformed
if your hand
were not
a part of it?
Healing Hand of God,
how I love you so
for every gift
and every challenge.
You are the power
behind every great act
of change.
Change and transform me,
all of us,
the whole of your earth,
and we will sing out
your praise.

Love always, Andrea