Considering Real Transformation

One of the expectations of our “Go, Gather, Grow” strategy is that “Grow” implies a transformational change in our lives as we pursue the goal of becoming more like Jesus. Too often, we measure our spiritual growth only by an increased understanding of God, rather than a life that reflects his teachings. Transformational change is a balance between understanding and application. The vision of Sunnybrook is “To be known a church that inspires people to live sacrificially for the cause of Jesus”.  I sometimes ask myself if I am just learning more about Him, or if I am actually becoming a little more like Him?  On the other hand, am I still the same person with the same inconsistencies and reluctance to change. The old cowboy poet laureate, and large animal veterinarian Baxter Black expressed it another way.

I first heard Baxter Black recite this poem over twenty-five years early one morning on National Public Radio. That was long before I recognized the significant and needed changes that were necessary in my life. It was a different time and a different place, but the bottom line (no pun intended) of the message remains true. I have used this poem in many contexts and once very recently at the funeral of a long time friend. We can never fool Him, but are we fooling ourselves ? Baxter Black frames the question this way:

"What does Transformation mean?"
A cowboy asked his friend.
His pal replied, "It happens when
Your life has reached its end.

They comb your hair, and wash your neck,
And clean your fingernails,
And lay you in a padded box
Away from life's travails."

"The box and you goes in a hole,
That's been dug into the ground.
Transformation starts when
You’re planted beneath a mound.
The clods melt down, just like your box,
And you who is inside.
And then you’re just beginning
Your transformation ride."

"In a while, the grass will grow
Upon your rendered mound.
Till some day on your molded grave
A lonely flower is found.

And say a horse should wander by
And graze upon this flower
That once was you, but now's become
Your vegetative bower."

"The posy that the horse has eaten
Up, with his other feed,
Makes bone, and fat, and muscle
Essential to the steed,
But some is left that he can't use
And so it passes through,
And finally lays upon the ground
This thing, that once was you."

"Then say, by chance, I wander by
And sees this upon the ground,
And I ponder, and I wonder about,
This object that I found.

I thinks of transformation,
Of life and death, and such,
And I  come away concluding: You know Dude,
You haven’t  changed, all that much