Transformations

I need to get to bed tonight. Last night, we were hit with some pretty intense thunderstorms. Around 11:30, there was an incredible thunder boom. It actually lasted for probably 10 seconds and rattled the windows of my house. It was a little difficult to calm down after that boom. However, I have been a bit struck this week by the reality that I have been reading about two different transformations. One transformation is in the book of Ruth. I really like this book that is nestled between Judges and 1 Samuel. It is short - a quick read. Naomi undergoes an amazing transformation in this book. The contrast between these two verses is quite striking.

Emptiness
Ruth 1:20 (New International Version)
"Don't call me Naomi, " she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter."

Fullness
Ruth 3:17 (New International Version)
"He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, 'Don't go back to your mother-in-law [Naomi] empty-handed.' "

Believe it or not, this is actually not the main point of the book. The rest of the story is pretty exciting, too.

The other transformation is in the The Voyage of the Dawn Treader from the Chronicles of Narnia. Eustace is an annoying knucklehead of a fellow. However, he is undergoing quite a transformation in the book: "It would be nice, and fairly true, to say that 'from that time forth Eustace was a different boy.' To be strictly accurate, he began to be a different boy. He had relapses. There were still many days when he could be very tiresome. But most of those I shall not notice. The cure had begun" (p. 476).