I love a project. To be more precise, I love starting and finishing a project. The middle is not so inspiring.
Have you ever resolved to clean out your kitchen cupboards? The first step, naturally, is to pull everything out. How else are you going to clean right to the back, declutter, and reorganise? Unfortunately, this inevitably leads to a moment standing in the centre of the kitchen, with the contents of the cupboards strewn around you, when you suddenly realise that you’ve lost your motivation… and you still have to put everything back. The middle of a project is not so inspiring.
When I was a child, my parents decided to renovate our family home. It was a massive undertaking and it did not go to plan. Some unfortunate events combined with a DIY attitude meant that the whole project took a lot longer than we (I) expected. Years longer.
I like the metaphor of renovation for spiritual formation and discipleship. It captures the idea of deconstruction (sometimes you need to pull something apart) but it pairs it with a hopeful future orientation (you’re pulling it apart to build it up again better, stronger, safer, and on firmer foundations). Sometimes you planned to just update the tapware in the bathroom, but then you discover black mould or dry rot behind the bathroom sink and before you know it you’re replacing the floor and half the walls.
A good definition is handy too, and Robert Mulholland’s is my favourite. Spiritual formation is “(1) a process (2) of being conformed (3) to the image of Christ (4) for the sake of others.”[1] Over time, we are being changed and there is a directionality to that change: the image of Christ. What for? For the sake of the world.
This process, though: why is it taking so long?
