Peeling the Bark

I was thinking about change the other day. Not the jingling in your pocket kind, but life changes. They happen everyday; we’re not the same people we were the day before. If nothing else, we’re a day older and hopefully, wiser.

I know the struggles that I have personally. I have always wanted to change, mostly to please other people. My concentration to that end has pretty much been a waste of time. Either no one notices but me, or else it was never quite good enough.
Finally I decided to change for me. Some people may see some things are different, like I’m not quite as quick to get angry as I used to be (still a work in progress), or that I try to be helpful when I can more. I may be the only one who ever notices the whole picture; but I know inside there are changes.

I wonder what God thinks when He sees our efforts. I wonder if He chuckles at me. Like others, I’m guilty of trying to do it ‘my way’ instead of relying on Him to peel the bark to reveal the inner person.
When my girls were young we used to enjoy when the Crepe Myrtles started to shed their bark. We’d help it along by peeling away the pieces. Underneath the rough, dry exterior was a smooth, creamy new skin for the tree, ready to face the world.
Isn’t that kind of what God does to us? He peels away the outer stuff that isn’t any good anymore to reveal the hidden part of ourselves. Sometimes we don’t even know it’s there at all before He has His way.
We have to let go and let God, as the saying goes. Or else, what we try to do will always be a struggle and will always fall short. He has things just waiting for us that we can’t imagine. So take today and let go. See what happens.