Transformation

I’ve recently finished painting my kitchen. I didn’t intend to do this now (my bedroom was supposed to come first.) But, I was trying to decide on colors and so bought a sample, was given a few more by a friend, and once I had several different shades up on the wall trying to determine which was best, it seemed a good idea to just keep going.

It always amazes me how such a simple act, changing color, transforms a room. I had preconceived ideas about what the change would be. I was relatively certain that going from a very light yellow to a very intense red would make my kitchen seem smaller and, truth be told, I was preparing myself to paint right over it with a lighter color. But, strangely enough (probably not so strange to my more artistic friends) the color makes the room seem larger, more expansive, more open. I love it!

But one change, sometimes irritatingly so, leads to another. Once the kitchen is painted a new color, the hallway and stairwell call out for a new and fresh look. And then, that new color leads to a new color for the guest room, and on we go. Not to mention that rugs and chair pads that go with one color don’t necessarily work so well with another color, and this item or that, suddenly looks old and tired. When does it end?

This act of transforming a space can happen in an incredibly short span of time. While most of us are not rich enough or fortunate enough to have a crew come in and redo our home while we’re off on a cushy vacation ala Extreme Home Makeovers, in a weekend we can have a seemingly ‘new’ space with relatively little financial output and a little elbow grease.

This space transformation causes me to think about life transformation. How many of us are the person we thought we would be when we were twelve? How many of us have the lives we thought we would have? How many of us are still the same as we were ten years ago or even five? Transformation is a byproduct of growth. Events that we did not anticipate - happen. Relationships that we depended upon go away. Jobs change.

If we look back at our lives and pay attention to things that may even seem insignificant, the answer to the question above becomes clear. It doesn’t end. Change is continuous. It is truly the only constant, the only thing on which we can depend. We breathe, we grow, we change. The challenge of change is in the transformation. Do we work with the changes and allow them to result in a transformation that moves us forward, makes us better, causes us to give out of that transformation in a positive way for the benefit of those with whom we share our lives.