The Sweetness of Silver

A lot of people talk about growing up as if it's a negative thing; about this "loss of innocence" and learning to be an adult, but I raise you something different, something sweeter: Adulting Phase II.

It's a place I've been living in lately, and I have quite a few thoughts about it, but most greatly:

the Lord is sweet.

The Lord is sweet because Phase II feels a lot like gaining clarity while not having a clue, and knowing yourself without knowing the whole picture, and having certainty that the Lord will provide while also being totally open-handed as to how He will bring the provision.

For me, Phase II has looked a lot like dying to myself unintentionally.

Because all I was really trying to do was be undyingly in love with the Lord, and along side that He crucified my flesh.

And because of that, there have been tears shed.

There have been happy tears, filled with joy and celebration; and there have been tears of wrestling and attempts at resisting what gets so clearly placed in front of me, because growing up is still growing up, and sometimes it's hard to admit that life is changing.

That one phase is coming to a close, to begin another.

That rather than trying to "find myself", I acknowledge that I AM found, and that this is really just the beginning of something new - the beginning of Part II. Something exciting, and new, and not nearly as scary as Phase I of Adulting was, because now I can go forth boldly, knowing the Lord will carry me.

It's not easy for me to admit that things are changing.

For those that have been reading this blog for sometime, you know how much I despise change.

But rather than despising this conclusion, I find solace in this:

"For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord."

Malachi 3:2-3

As one season races to a conclusion, the refiner pours away a little bit more of me, to make more room for Him. For refinement to take place, it requires pressing forward into new - cleaning up and bleaching away what was old and left behind, to reveal something of greater value.

See, to be purified, is not just to remove all the things that are of this world - it is leaving something even better in its place.

The product of Phase II is not that I be left grieving or longing for things to be like they once were.

It does not mean that I must weep for something as if it has been lost; but that the Refiner SITS and comforts me while I become the beautiful thing He intended to make in His likeness.

That's why this is sweet.

Because in the stripping away, the Lord seeks silver. He sets me up for an even better next chapter.

Where refinement continues, and sanctification is still sought, but from a new mindset and heart condition.

So I challenge you in this: where are you finding the sweetness of silver?

Here's to the craziness of conclusions and the sweetness of something new...

-Emma