The Formula for Knowing God's Will

What does this look like, God’s sandpaper? Well, when I was in middle school, I took shop. Our first assignment was to take a rough board of mahogany and make finished cutting boards for our moms. First, we cut the boards into the shapes we wanted. Then, the sanding began. I hated sanding. It was hard! These boards were rough, you know. They had grooves and splinters. They were imperfect, as most things are in life. Yet, we were told to make these boards as smooth as a baby’s behind. 

So the sanding began.

The first step in sanding a rough board starts with what’s called 60-grit sandpaper. In sanding, there are two categories of sandpaper that are defined by the size of the sand particles. Macro grit and micro grit. Macro grit starts with very large particles of sand. Micro grit proceeds with smaller, finer particles.

60-grit sandpaper is called “coarse” sandpaper. It’s meant to remove large, unwanted imperfections in the board very rapidly. 60-grit sandpaper does the hard work, first. However, when 60-grit has done its work, I learned you aren’t done. There’s a progression. We eventually wanted to get to micro 400-grit paper, which was the last application before we were done sanding and could get to the joy of staining and varnishing. So, we went from 60-grit, to 80-grit, to 100-grit, 200-grit and then 400-grit. 

I learned sanding required a lot of hard work, patience and faith! Would I ever be done sanding this darn board? Sometimes I’d gouge my board with poor sanding. Through my own impatience, I’d sand too hard, creating a divot in the board. I’d then have to drop down again to a courser grit and re-sand the entire board! I learned two things. First, I didn’t like sanding at all! Second, I learned to be much more patient and gentle with my board to avoid having to re-sand it all over again.

I finally got that cutting board done, and my mom loved it. Still has it to this day. For the joy of the outcome, we do the hard work, first. And, we learn how to do it right.

You can’t get to 400-grit sandpaper in your life if you don’t start with 60-grit. I learned that if you try to cheat by jumping ahead to higher grits of paper, the board just tears up the sandpaper and you get splinters in your fingers requiring a trip to the school nurse for a tweezer and bandages.

Rats! First things first.

Is ‘transformation’ hard?

Well, one of my favorite quotes: Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. 

“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life.” 

Theodore Roosevelt

So, yes, transformation takes focus, study and effort. However, we are surrounded by transformation. Transformation is both natural and intentional.

In nature a caterpillar goes into its cocoon and after a time emerges a butterfly. Nature goes through four seasons: spring, summer, winter and fall. Trees go from blossoms, to leaves, to color, to falling leaves, to a form of death awaiting regeneration in the spring. The sun sets, and we go from light to darkness, also seeing the majesty in the night sky denied during sunlight. As humans, we’re born this small, pink boy or girl. Over the next 18 years, we transform from an infant into a grown adult. That’s our physical being.

Even as humans our intellect and emotions constantly grow and transform, at least when we’re young. Why should transformation stop? It shouldn’t. However, especially once we become adults, transformation can stop. Why? Because now it’s a choice. Think about it. As kids, we didn’t have a choice. We “had” to go to school. Our parents put responsibilities on us. Perhaps they made us go to church. As adults, we are free from external motivations. We become internally motivated, or, not so much. The degree to which we continue to transform positively as adults is completely dependent on our will and decision to do so.

Take some examples. We get married! Yay! We start having fights! Boo! Grow through it? That’s a choice. We become parents! Yay! Hey, this is hard and requires great sacrifice! Boo! Grow through it? I got a job! Yay! Yuck, I don’t like these people! Boo! Grow through it?

So as adults, transformation can 1) grow by choice 2) stall out through indecision and lack of work on it or, worse, 3) retrograde, meaning we move backwards through bad choices and negative responses like anger and resentment. Let’s be truthful. Not everyone responds in a healthy manner to what happens to them in life. 

God means us to transform, and we are surrounded by this truth. However, transforming our souls does not just “happen,” as with the caterpillar, or trees. Transformation with our souls requires deliberateness, effort, and a goal. God says, transform into Me. That’s His goal for us.