Have you ever seen a chameleon? It’s a kind of lizard — like the Gieco gecko, only bigger — but it doesn’t do commercials. Chameleons change colors so their enemies can’t see them. If they are on a gray rock and a person comes by, they will turn kind of gray so they blend in. When they are happy, they turn green.
Well, Papa Tim brought a chameleon home one day. He named it Wilson. He put it in a small terrarium in a nice, warm place. Wilson turned green every time he saw Papa Tim. (He turned brown whenever he saw me.)
A few days later, Papa Tim brought home a raggedy old baby stroller and put it in my office.
What??? I wondered when I saw it. Why is that stroller sitting in my office? I felt suspicious.
When he came home from work, Papa Tim said, “Oh, the stroller is for Wilson.You see, he needs to be taken out in the sun often so he’ll get plenty of vitamin D. But the terrarium is too heavy for me to carry very far, so I’m going to put the terrarium in the stroller and take Wilson on walks with us.”
“Oh, no!” I said. “What will the neighbors think? We’ll be walking along, and some neighbors will jog by. They’ll think we must have a new grandchild in the stroller. They’ll come over with smiles on their faces to see it. Then their eyes will pop wide open and they’ll say, “It’s a LIZARD!” Then they will hurry away and tell everyone, and we’ll be known as ‘Those Weird Lizard People’! I don’t think we should take Wilson on our walks!”
So Papa Tim decided to just take Wilson out on our lawn, where there were trees to hide them from the road. Wilson was happy with that. He was very shy anyway.
Do you ever wish you were like a chameleon so you could change colors and blend in wherever you are?
The Apostle Paul said we are not supposed to do that! He wrote: Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect, (Romans 12:2, NLT).
The word “transform” means to become something else from the inside out. Like when a caterpillar makes a cocoon and turns into a butterfly. The word “conform” means to become like someone else. God wants us to “transform” not “conform”. That way God can turn us into lights for Jesus for our friends to see. That way we can help them learn about Jesus, too.
So until our next campfire, don’t hide who you are becoming because of Jesus. Be a light instead!
Happy hugs,
Montana Gramma