be ready to change (tips from dietrich von hildebrand and cinderella)

Caro Marie
Jul 21, 2017 · 5 min read

Transformation is essential to survival. Just like a snake sheds its skin to rid itself of parasites and to make room for growth, so we must “Put off the old man who is corrupted according to the desire of error.” (Eph. 4:22) Even secular culture recognizes the necessity of transformation, but its often a misguided sense of the concept. Too much emphasis is placed on perfecting and transforming things within the external/physical realm, and the truly important need for inward transformation, ‘metanoia,’ is ignored or repressed. However, this “true conversion of the heart” must be experienced daily in order to live as who God calls us to be, which will ultimately result in our happiness. We must have the courage to recognize who we are at the present moment, and we must have a deep desire to become a new person in Christ. The ‘readiness to change’ is the first disposition we must possess in order to achieve any sort of growth.

There is a natural desire for transformation inside of every person. But because of our brokenness, this desire is not recognized as a yearning for God, but rather as a desire for worldly perfection. Ever walk past the magazines at the grocery checkout? There are so many headlines advertising the “key” to attaining perfection, such as, “transform your body in 30 days!” or, “24 tips to be successful in the work place!” In Dietrich Von Hildebrand’s Transformation in Christ, he calls this a “natural idealism… that underestimates the depth of our defects…incurable by human means, with which our nature is afflicted.” The problem with this kind of grocery magazine idealism is that it incorrectly places worldly progress achieved by natural effort above God’s grace. Furthermore, it doesn’t call the individual to change who he really is within himself and leads him down a rabbit hole of external and material “progress,” which never really satisfies the desire he has for change and adventure.

In working on his own idea of perfection, man believes he is bettering himself, but in reality he is maintaining a false self, a self he constructs. Because he fixates on his own abilities and accomplishments, he is not open to something greater, something outside himself, i.e. the opportunity for God to work in His life. God, as our creator, knows our true identity and what we are intended for. So the more man maintains the false construct of himself, the less ‘himself’ he is! We have to maintain holy flexibility and allow ourselves to ‘be like wax’ in the hands of our creator, who will mold us for the purpose for which we are intended.

This kind of complete surrender of our false selves to God is hard, because it means that we have to admit that our plan for maintaining the self that we have constructed is not the best plan. However, recognizing that we are imperfect is the first step to transformation. Our pride makes us recoil at this idea, but it is simply the truth. Once we have recognized our own basic inadequacy, we must accept it. To do otherwise would be to imply that we are more than what we are. This doesn’t mean that we should not strive towards what is higher, but rather it calls us to accept ourselves as we are in the present momen and then to move forward and make the changes we need to make in our lives. Not who we think we are, butwe who we want to be, with conditions and allowances for change in the future.

Looking at yourself in truth takes grit and guts. Someone who I think has these qualities in spades is Cinderella, especially in the newest live action movie version of the story. Before she heads off to the ball, her rags are changed into a beautiful gown and delicate glass slippers are whooshed onto her feet. She is “unrecognizable,” (although she looks just as gorgeous as she did before) thanks to a spell from her fairy godmother. When she finally arrives to the party, she dances the night away with the prince until the clock strikes midnight, then she peaces out and rushes home before her magic makeover fades away. When the prince searches the land for the beautiful princess who danced with him and then ditched him, he eventually finds Cinderella not as a princess, but as a servant, wearing dirty rags. During this scene, as Cinderella walks tentatively toward the prince, unsure of his reaction to her true identity, the narrator underlines the moment with a great quote.

“Perhaps the greatest risk any of us will ever take is to be seen for who we truly are.”

This quote is absolutely striking and powerful, as it captures the essence of the virtue of courage. Cinderella did not present herself as a ‘daughter of the house,’ or by other title that would inflate her own rank and importance, but she asked the prince to accept her as she was anyways, in the serving clothes she wore. This courage to “come as we are” is the kind of courage that is necessary to begin the transformation Christ calls us to.

Once we have seen ourselves as we truly are, we are sure to find some areas in which we are lacking (surprise!) and so we rightly desire to improve those areas. This is the perfect disposition for moral and spiritual growth, because when we are constantly striving to improve ourselves (read: become like Christ) then our focus is in the right place. But if that desire is lost, then we begin to move backwards in the spiritual life. Therefore, we must continually be ready to die to our false selves every day and to be receptive to God’s will for us.

However, this readiness to change does not mean that we are like chameleons, changing our skin to evade danger. In fact, most of the time letting Christ work in our lives puts a target on our backs. The readiness to change is more of an openness to how Christ wants to form us; it’s not meant to enable fickleness.

All my life, I accepted the truth that God was omniscient and all-powerful without really thinking about the implications of those statements. Only recently did I realize that if I truly believed that he was all good and all knowing, then it would follow that he would know what is best for me. It made me realize that surrendering to His will was the best plan of action instead of me trying to pin down happiness through my own efforts.

I want be ‘soft like wax’ and open to God’s will. Already I’ve seen the benefits of letting go and allowing him to work in my life, and I am excited to see more of His plan unfold.

)

Caro Marie

Written by

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade