It's all grace

Transformation or conversion begins, proceeds, is sustained and finds its fulfillment in God.
It doesn't start with having everything in my life totally in place.
It proceeds by letting grace, God's grace, fill my life and find a home in me.
It is sustained by the certainty that God loves me as I am, with still the many aspects of my life not in place.
Its fulfillment is not the self-assurance that "I made it". No, its fulfillment is being in the heart of God.
For, indeed, everything is grace.

By the Spirit

In Luke's infancy narrative, highlighted in the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Birth of John the Baptist and the Birth of Jesus, there is an emphasis on the presence of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that transforms the life of the personages involved in the various events. It is the Spirit that transforms mundane events into salvation history.
Before being a fruit of our efforts, salvation is a gift of God.
I actually have a very interesting way of representing the Spirit's work in our lives.
The Spirit encircles our lives and sweetly, gently and patiently brings down our defenses, until we open up to His presence and discover that surrendering to God does not mean losing but finding the best and the truest of our humanity.

Quiet and unassuming

The Kingdom of God is God's presence, a quiet, unassuming presence that first of all transforms the heart. Only hearts filled with God can transform structures. Any transformation that starts from the outside is bound to fail.

Transformation

Transformation is always from within. It is never painless because it asks you to leave what is familiar. It rocks the world you've always known.