All of us love to see before-and-after photographs. In an article about face lifts, hairdos or weight loss, I love looking back and forth at the two pictures, studying the improvements. Genuine change is encouraging, because all of us see things in ourselves we don’t like. Something about the after-shots inspires hope.

I find it fascinating that even the “beautiful people,” movie stars and models, often expound on their physical flaws, things the rest of us don’t see. Apparently none of us are exempt from wanting to make positive changes.

And that’s just on the outside.

What about the inside? My guess is most of us have flaw-lists far longer for internal stuff than external, all of it without an easy fix. Not being able to visualize our inner changes is one of the reasons it’s so difficult to make them. We can’t take before and after pictures and can’t see how we’re doing.

Yet deep down, with all the negatives that need improving, something positive pushes us to keep trying to do better. For example, we determine we’ll never stretch the truth again or waste any more time. We promise to keep confidences. We resolve to put others ahead of ourselves.

But in working on this kind of inner makeover, failure often comes sooner rather than later. The older we get, the more we realize that bootstrap efforts will never get the job done. We’re tempted to throw up our hands, accept defeat and say, “I can’t improve; that’s just how I am.”

There is a successful route to a good-looking internal makeover, however, and it starts with admitting we need outside help to make the inside stuff happen. Thankfully, God is standing by with an open-ended offer to assist. Even if every other effort has failed, partnering with him will bring success.

In the Bible, a first-rate internal makeover is called “bearing fruit.” In other words, if we sync our inner want-to’s with God’s want-to’s for us, something good will be produced. That goes for our own lives and the lives of those around us. It’s a good deal all the way around, although we can’t miss the “if”.

“If” we sync with what God wants…

And it’s important to know what that is. I’m learning even in widowhood, as I work through one of life’s big disappointments, that leaning into God makes good things happen inside of me. Life-fruit gets produced. I’m experiencing it, and anyone who partners with the Lord can experience it, too.

Though I can’t show before and after pictures, I can confirm there have been positive changes, because I know where I was before, and I’m on my way into God’s after.

And unlike before and after photographs, God’s version of the after keeps changing and improving, which is why before and after pictures could never tell the story anyway.

Jesus said, “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. I am the true vine.” (John 15:4,1)

Spending time with babies and preschoolers reminds me how easily distracted they are. Micah, at 18 months, can be hard-core tantrumming about a toy he hopes to snatch from his sister but a quick glance at something new turns it off like a water faucet. His lilting voice returns, and he’s all grins.

Tonight he was cheerfully munching his dinner when he accidentally knocked his plastic plate to the floor, scattering its contents in a yard-wide circle. Jack was there in a flash, demolishing Micah’s meal in less than a minute while Micah wailed and pointed at the tile in anguish. Although he loves Jack, it was disturbing to see his ham rolls and cheese cubes disappear.

There was no calming him. Dinner was over.

I took him out of his high chair in an inconsolable state, but by the time we’d walked to the next room, he was belly-laughing. The only thing I did was bump my forehead against his and say, “Buh buh buh buh.” Distractibility. It’s a wonderful thing.

Or is it?

Being that distractible is associated with being immature, but I wonder how many of us with accumulated years are equally as distractible. From God’s perspective it must seem continual. We join a Bible study but get distracted while doing our lesson and arrive unprepared. We promise to memorize Scripture but fail to focus and can’t retain what we learn. We vow to do better at sharing our faith but get sidetracked worrying about failure. We commit to regular offering contributions but get diverted by a vacation package or a new car.

I wonder if God doesn’t long to see unswerving determination in our spiritual lives. Paul talks about “fixing our eyes on Jesus” as we run life’s race, explaining how not to become distracted along the way. James describes the negatives of being “double-minded.” And in Deuteronomy we read God’s urgings to obey “without turning to the right or to the left.”

Scripture links distractibility not only with immaturity but also with instability, and none of us wants to be unstable. If we can resolve to be single-minded, we’ll eliminate quite a few problems. For example, if married people refuse to entertain ideas of being single again, fewer will walk away from their spouses. And if we commit to living in harmony with others, the courts won’t be as overloaded as they are.

The benefits will be personal, too. If we follow through on saving money, we won’t panic when an emergency occurs. If we commit to eating wisely, we’ll be healthier. If we take God’s promises at face value, we’ll live in freedom.

The temptation “to have our cake and eat it too” is all around us, and if the enemy can keep us distracted and lock us into wishy-washy thinking, he knows he’ll be victorious.

If only it were as easy as “buh buh buh buh.”

“A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:8)