The outside of the Rock Tumbler box said “Turn rough rocks into semi-precious gemstones.” So, I imagined we would be holding fistfuls of polished gems by the next day, at the latest. After piecing
the rock tumbler together and loading it with the rough stones and the abrasive grit that would smooth them, I turned on the tumbler. The rocks become gems through a process of the rough parts being scrubbed off by the abrasive grit rubbing against them constantly.
the rock tumbler together and loading it with the rough stones and the abrasive grit that would smooth them, I turned on the tumbler. The rocks become gems through a process of the rough parts being scrubbed off by the abrasive grit rubbing against them constantly.
The noisy tumbler churned night and day in our laundry room for no less than six weeks, the motor burned up and still the stones had not yet been transformed into the sparkling gems they were meant to be. Gems take a long time to make. Rock tumbling and the gems that result are for patient artisans.
The topic of this blog post really made me think. I almost didn’t write it because I feel like I don’t measure up 100% anywhere in my life. It reminded me of that Rock Tumbler and those rocks that still had a long way to go in becoming jewels.
Did I have any area in my character that was fully transformed?
Was there a place in me where all of the roughness had been replaced with the smoothness of a fine gem?
And who I am to say I have it “all together”?
What I found was evidence of the process of being smoothed by a Holy, patient Artisan. It is the power of Christ who transforms me. I thought about what are the things that have caused the most transformation? What is the “grit” that removes the rough places? For me, God has used times of trial as the ‘grit’ to smooth the rough places in my heart.
Adversity has taught me to rely on God more than myself, to trust Him. Through grief, He’s taught me a broken, grieving heart can feel greater compassion for another broken, grieving heart. And in that compassion, I can minister to someone else. Being convicted of my impatience and the pain it caused someone else has made me more patient. Being acutely aware of my offenses has taught me to extend forgiveness and grace. I could go on.
The long process of transformation continues and I am thankful that He is still chiseling and shaping. I am not fully polished yet but thankfully, by Grace, I am not what I used to be.
“Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering.... The love of God did not protect His own Son.... He will not necessarily protect us - not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process.”
― Elisabeth Elliot
― Elisabeth Elliot
2 Corinthians 3:17,18
…17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
Remind me who I am:
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