It’s a foggy morning here in my hometown…one of those mornings that makes it hard to get motivated…one of those mornings when it feels like forward progress will come only at the cost of great effort…if at all. And yet, I’m confident that the fog will lift. The light will return, and the day will move forward – bringing with it energy and productivity and joy.

I wonder if our walk with Christ is like that sometimes. We encounter those moments when our hearts are “veiled” – shrouded in the fog of worry or weariness or distraction – and at such times it can feel like forward progress and transformation will come only with great effort…if at all. But then the fog lifts, and we are reminded that the light of Christ has been there all along – warming us, guiding us, and providing the energy that remakes us one small change at a time.

In one of today’s readings from the Daily Office, the apostle Paul writes:

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate a the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Cor. 3:18)

We are “being transformed,” Paul says. The forward progress that Christ desires for us is God’s project, not ours. And so we can trust that “He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.” (Phil. 1:6) And even though the changes might come gradually (“with ever-increasing glory” as the NIV says – or “from one degree of glory to another” in the ESV) – they will come. And one day, “we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2)

Is there anything veiling your heart today? May the Lord make His face to shine upon you. And may His Spirit keep producing the small but meaningful transformations that will remake you in His image.