About the Agents of Transformation Series
This post is part of our Agents of Transformation blog series—a collection of stories and reflections exploring what it means for Canopy Life students to become Godly, Innovative, Emotionally Healthy, and Relationally Rooted leaders who can transform their communities.Want to explore more stories like this one? [Click here to read the full series.]
To learn more about what it means for our students to become Agents of Transformation in Kenya—[Click here to view our online magazine.]
About the author of this article:
Beth Nelson has been inspired and encouraged by the Canopy Life story for more than 10 years. Much of that inspiration has come through her family’s relationship with their sponsor student. In this reflection, she weaves together her love of baking, her walk with Christ, and the transformation she’s witnessed at Canopy Life Academy—all through the lens of one powerful word: consistency.
Consistency as a Foundation for Transformation
Consistency is key. It’s also been a source of mild consternation for me ever since my first attempt to make French macarons. The batter should have the consistency of lava, they say—smooth, glossy, and flowy. Insert straight-face emoji. How many home bakers have a side hustle as a volcanologist, innately understanding the experience of running a silicon spatula through flowing lava, I ask you.
(Short story: the macarons worked out fine. It turns out lemon curd can cover a multitude of sins.)
Consistency is key, also, as a root of joy, hope, and faith. The Agents of Transformation at Canopy Life Academy are learning this deeply. They’re building healthy relationships with God. For children born into lives marked by instability and insecurity, the consistent rhythms of the Canopy Life home create fertile soil for their growth. Canopy Life students are growing into Godly, Innovative, Emotionally Healthy, Relationally Rooted power plants of transformation.
You’re Part of the Story, Too
If you’re part of the Canopy Life Academy story—and you are, just by reading this—congrats! That makes you an Agent of Transformation, too. You’re connected to 50 brilliant, hilarious, and creative students on six scenic acres in suburban Nairobi. (You really should visit!) Each day, these students are lovingly molded by their Creator and by 30 teachers, house parents, and staff who model Godly leadership.
Consistency: The Path of True Transformation
For development to fully take root, to do its best work, consistency truly is key. Anyone on a path of transformation remains consistent and steady along the way.They devote themselves fully—living surrendered, empowered, and integrated lives marked by integrity. And we are all being transformed into something.
Christians being molded into the likeness of Christ show consistency by actively building a habit of engaging with God. We do this through a variety of spiritual practices and methods of prayer. Devotion to following God’s commands requires deepening our knowledge and love of Him. Rooted in Scripture, we enter into the Word as active participants, engaging through practices like lectio divina, visio divina, and narrative entry. As we invite the Holy Spirit to interpret for us, the Word of God comes alive in new ways, offering fresh wisdom and insights from stories and verses we’ve encountered before.
When Consistency Feels Hard: Walking Through Desolation
We will undoubtedly trudge through days (possibly months or years) of spiritual dryness that make consistency and steadiness difficult. Saint Ignatius of Loyola called this desolation. It’s the feeling that God is far away, silent, or that our spiritual practices no longer work. We sometimes feel spiritually lazy, tepid, listless.
This is when our rootedness in Scripture and in being the beloved of God does its work. This is when we dig deeper into the practices we know, believing—even if only cerebrally—that we will again come into the light. We surrender to operating in the likeness of Christ, following His commands and obeying His words. In moments when we lack the energy to figure things out ourselves, we look to His example and mirror the way He moved through the world.
The Fruit of a Consistent Life in the Spirit
For those who live in the Spirit, surrendered and committed to consistently growing in our life with Christ, the fruit of our commitment will come. Even (especially?) through desolation. We will grow in power from love, joy, peace, patience, and all the fruits in Galatians 5.
Biologically, fruit is a plant’s way of protecting its legacy. Left on the tree, fruit ensures the seed is protected until the time comes for the fruit to ripen, soften, fall, and create a soft place for the seed to land. The fruit composts and becomes fertilizer for the new seed, empowering it with the nutrients it needs to take root and grow.
Integrity: The Consistency of the Whole
The integrity of a leader cultivating a healthy relationship with God extends into every part of the leader’s experience. Integrity is, by definition, wholeness. The same throughout. Consistency.
If you’ll forgive the return to my macaron batter, you achieve the perfect consistency only when the almond flour fully integrates into the egg whites. Any one part is now representative of the whole. I’ve often heard it said of integrity that how you do one thing is how you do all things.
An Agent of Transformation at Canopy Life will carry Godly leadership into every part of life through their innate integrity.
Christ: Our Model of Consistency
And where do we look when we long to live with that kind of integrity—whole and consistent in every part of life?
To Christ, our perfect example.
Grounded in belovedness, He rose from the waters of baptism to the voice of His Father: You are my one dear Son; in You I take great delight (Mark 1:11). Our change-maker friends in Kenya are transforming the world, confident of their status as the adored children of God. Modeled after our King and brother, who embodied devotion, surrender, empowerment, integrity, and consistency, they hear words of life spoken over them. Then, like Christ, they launch into their work in the world.