Meaningful Change is Painful

I was thinking about the story by C. S. Lewis called The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. In the story Lucy & Edmond return to Narnia with a cousin named Eustace. Nobody much liked Eustace, he complained about everything and avoided being helpful. At one point Eustace is turned into a dragon. He learns that he has been very difficult to be around and essentially sees the truth about himself. He meets Aslan the lion (the Christ figure) and Alsan tells him to undress and wash in a well. Eustace scratches his skin and removes it three times, but each time there was another layer to remove. Aslan says" You will have to let me undress you." Eustace explains, "I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I lay just flat down on my back to let him do it. The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt."

I think this is how we change out hearts. We try to make small changes in ourselves. These changes are easy and really don't cost us much. We may be proud of ourselves for the progress we have made. However it is all nothing compared to the progress we can make if we allow the Savior to painfully remove the bad parts of us. I think that sometimes we don't turn to the Savior until we are desperate and it is only at that point we are willing to endure the pain that will refine us.