God The Goldsmith

The Goldsmith
Remembering God as the Goldsmith and Jeweller is to invite total purification of the soul. A real jeweller doesn't like artificial materials. He'll obtain pure gold from low-quality alloy by heating the metal in a furnace. Furthermore, he doesn't want to see a single flaw - he knows how much it reduces a precious stone's value.
Meditation is like a fire of purification. I put myself into God's care, with love and humility, knowing this is the way to bring out the best in me. God the Goldsmith makes Sure that all the impurities, the false and artificial aspects of my personality, are removed.
Courage and faith are needed to undergo this transformation, because there comes a point where the metal has lost its previous form, but hasn't yet been reshaped into something new. I may find myself in a fluid, formless, in between state, neither one thing nor the other.
I have let go of the support my previous identity and position gave me, and haven't yet developed the new role I would like to play. I am also more aware than ever of the rubbish mixed in the soul as it separates out from that which is real and true in me. As soon as I say I want to change, it's a challenge to the forces of negativity, within and without, to come and test me.
At such times, complete faith in the craftsmanship of the Supreme is needed. I know I am in God's skilful hands and that the process will produce something of great value. The challenge is simply to stay still.
The intensity of my love for God increases ... it becomes like a fire, cleansing the soul ... I realize that I had accumulated so much impurity, so much that was negative and artificial ... the fire draws this out of me, and it leaves me ... I let go of physical aspects of identity, knowing these are, in any case, impermanent ... it
feels like I have nothing, but I see that I am becoming light, and free from burdens ... God's love is purifying me ... I emerge from the fire as pure gold ... staying in the hands of the Jeweller, as a child of God, I know that my original beauty is being restored.