Wax figures are art.  What an incredible ability to take melted wax and form look-alike models of others.  I think there are some lessons we can learn from the wax models.  We need to become like a wax model in that we are shapable and pliable.  We can choose to either be like wax or like concrete.  Concrete is hard, rough, and breaks easily.

Make no mistake in life that we will be burned by the fires of life.  Sometimes the fire is negative things that happen to us.  Sometimes the fire is circumstances we face.  Sometimes that fire comes to us through another person’s actions.  We can allow that fire to melt us and shape us into a better person or we can learn nothing from it only to be charred and bitter.  Wax melts when the fire is held to it.  Wax them becomes moldable and soft.  However, concrete does nothing in the fire.

We can’t choose what happens to us, but we can choose what happens in us.  If we allow the fires of life to refine us we will become stronger on the others side.

Malachi 3:3

“He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.”

Check out this story…

A woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were the hottest so as to burn away all of the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: “He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.” She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that, “Yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver in the fire, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”

He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy — when I see my image in the silver.”

God uses the fires of life to mold us into His image.  Don’t run from the fire when God turns up the heat, rather embrace the fire knowing He is with you the whole time.  You can become bitter or you can become better, your choice.  Always look for the life lessons to be learned in all things.  There is a reason for all things, and that reason God works for the good always.

Romans 8:28

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”