The divine transformation.

Spirituality has transformation as a key word. In Spirituality we reflect on the divine touch which changes humanity. Very often we identify this transformation as an experience of being born again. We then use all the well-known terms like repentance and acceptance of Jesus as one's Saviour.

But transformation is a word with many dimensions. The story of creation begins with God who creates and transforms a formless and empty earth (Gen.1:2!)into a beautiful universe with a garden as its centre. The beauty is time and again underlined through the refrain: God saw that it was good.

God's transformative actions are therefore seen in creation right from the very beginning of our existence. Long before any human being repents, God reaches out, touches, forms, fills, creates and brings about sheer beauty.It is a process, it is transformation. It is renewal.

Creation reflects God's life-giving touch,God's life-giving transformation of our world into existence.

But if Biblical Spirituality places transformation at the beginning of time and creation, it also speaks of human life as a product of transformation from the start. In Psalm 139:13-16 the Psalmist praises God for creating his inmost being. He was "in a secret place" (vers 15), in the depths of the earth (verse 16). His body was "unformed" (verse 16). Yet, despite being there, God saw him (vrse 16). What no one else could see, God did not miss. And then God knit him together in his mother's womb (verse 13). And again, in verse 15, "I was woven together." God transforms the unformed.

The spiritual journey is underway long before we are aware of it. We are being transformed long before our repentance. God touches us when even our mother is not aware of our existence.

Transformation is a divine gift. Repentance, proclaiming Jesus as Saviour, is a faltering, frail exclamation on our part with which we try to celebrate the unfathomable love of God for us even in our unnoticed unborn state. It is a love which begins before we exist and which happens long before we even think to repent. It is a love which forms us into a beautiful canvas, planned, prepared and finally painted by God. Our very existence, our creation, is God's transformation of us.

One stands bewildered before this mystery "I am feafully and wonderfully made" (verse 14). God's works are wonderful (verse 14), also because "all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be" (verse 16).

Sprituality is about transformation. Transformation seems to be such an easy word, almost like "repentance" which we often use so glibly. But the Biblical material about creation teaches us to think deeply about transformation. There is a depth to transformation that surpasses all our understanding. Spirituality wants to make us aware of the mystery of transformation. As a mystery, it is permeated with grace. Transformation is God's free gift to humanity, driven by divine love.

We should not claim too much for ourselves or be too proud of repentance. Perhaps we need to be more restrained, aware of the miracle of transformation. It should bring us to more praise and less pride about our own spiritual excellence.

Transformation overwhelms us, because it is given to us from before the beginning of time and our existence, before we are aware that we are being transformed. It is a miraculous gift which inspires us to admire the powerful presence of the divine in creation.