# Becoming day 1 > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God. > ### Opening Prayer: *God of our creation and re-creation, you who are constantly at work to shape me in the wholeness of Christ, you know the hardness of the structures of my being that resist your shaping touch. You know the deep inner rigidities of my being that reject your changing grace. By your grace soften my hardness and rigidity; help me to become pliable in your hands. Even as I pray this, may there be a melting of my innate resistance to your transforming love. Amen. (Invitation to a Journey by M. Robert Mulholland Jr.)* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 37 #### He Will Not Forsake His Saints [a] Of David. *37 Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!2 For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.[b]4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.* *5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.9 For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.* *10 In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.11 But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.12 The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him,13 but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.* *14 The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright;15 their sword shall enter their own heart,and their bows shall be broken.16 Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked. 17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous.* *18 The Lord knows the days of the blameless,and their heritage will remain forever; 19 they are not put to shame in evil times; in the days of famine they have abundance.20 But the wicked will perish; the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures; they vanish—like smoke they vanish away.* *21 The wicked borrows but does not pay back,but the righteous is generous and gives; 22 for those blessed by the Lord[c] shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off. 23 The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; 24 though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,for the Lord upholds his hand.* *25 I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. 26 He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing.27 Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever. 28 For the Lord loves justice;he will not forsake his saints.They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.* *29 The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever.* *30 The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.31 The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip.32 The wicked watches for the righteous and seeks to put him to death.33 The Lord will not abandon him to his power or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.34 Wait for the Lord and keep his way,and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off.35 I have seen a wicked, ruthless man,spreading himself like a green laurel tree.[d]36 But he passed away,[e] and behold, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found.* *37 Mark the blameless and behold the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace.38 But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off.39 The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.40 The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,because they take refuge in him.* #### Scripture for the Day: Romans 12:1-21 #### Reading for Reflection: *The desire for transformation lies deep in every human heart. This is why people enter therapy, join health clubs, get into recovery groups, read self-help books, attend motivational seminars, and make New Year’s resolutions. The possibility of transformation is the essence of hope. Psychologist Aaron Beck says that the single belief most toxic to a relationship is the belief that the other person cannot change.* ​ *This little word morph has a long history. It actually comes from one of the richest Greek words in the New Testament, and in a sense this little word is the foundation of this whole book. Morphoo means “the inward and real formation of the essential nature of a person.” It was a term used to describe the formation and growth of an embryo in a mother’s body.* ​ *Paul used this word in his letter to the Galatians: “…until Christ is formed in you.” He agonized until Christ should be born in those people, until they should express his character and goodness in their whole being. Paul said they—like us—are in a kind of spiritual gestation process. We are pregnant with possibilities of spiritual growth and moral beauty so great that they cannot be adequately described as anything less than the formation of Christ in our very lives.* ​ *Paul used another form of this word when he told the Christians in Rome that God had predestined them to be “conformed to the image of his Son.” This word, summorphizo, means to have the same form as another, to shape a thing into a durable likeness. Spiritual growth is a molding process: We are to be to Christ as an image is to the original.* ​ *Still another form of the word appears in Romans when Paul says we are not to be conformed to the world around us but “transformed by the renewing of your minds.” This word is metamorphoo, from which comes the English word metamorphosis. A creeping caterpillar is transformed into a soaring butterfly—yet as the children of God we are to undergo a change that makes that one barely noticeable.* ​ *When morphing happens, I don’t just do the things Jesus would have done; I find myself wanting to do them. They appeal to me. They make sense. I don’t just go around trying to do right things; I become the right sort of person. (The Life You’ve Always Wanted by John Ortberg)* #### Reflection and Listening: silent and written #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: May the Mind of Christ, My Savior *May the mind of Christ, my Savior,* *Live in me from day to day,* *By His love and power controlling* *All I do and say.* *May the Word of God dwell richly* *In my heart from hour to hour,* *So that all may see I triumph* *Only through His power.* *May the peace of God, my Father,* *Rule my life in everything.* *That I may be calm to comfort* *Sick and sorrowing.* *May the love of Jesus fill me,* *As the waters fill the sea;* *Him exalting, self-abasing* *This is victory.* ### Closing Prayer: *Father, forgive us when we think that life is more about what we are doing than about who we are becoming. Help us to remember that more than anything else you want our hearts. Allow us to give them to you fully, that we might receive yours in return; changing us more into the likeness your Son Jesus. In His name we pray. Amen. (JLB)*