Maybe that’s how God shapes us. Perhaps He smooths us and refines any rough edges primarily through irritation. After all, that’s how those rocks in the river bed get so smooth. All those years of water and sediment running over them wears away any of the roughness.

All those times I got upset with God. All those times I didn’t understand why God was allowing those people and those circumstances was because He was looking at a bigger picture than I could see at the time. He was looking at a finished product that I couldn’t (and still can’t fully) comprehend.

Sometimes, He chisels away like a sculptor working on transforming a block of granite into a statue. Each whack and blow is painful, but each brings us closer and closer to a vision that the Artist alone can see in His head.

I’d rather skip all the irritating, painful, inconvenient parts and get right to the part where I’m a brand new creation. But I’m skipping the very part that makes me new and not just a slightly improved version of the old me.

My prayer lately is “Lord, whatever it takes.”

Even if my flesh rebels. Even if I’d rather go the easy route.

If the end is looking like Jesus, then whatever God puts me through will be worth it.