Life in an Eggshell...01/18/05
I've always heard the term, "(something) in a nutshell." Well, tonight I propose that my life is seen as an eggshell (which has no relevance whatsoever to the phrase just used).
This weekend I was part of the staff at a retreat for junior high and high school teenagers. It was amazing. One of the object lessons involved boiled eggs. Everyone got their own egg and was asked to take the shell off. Once we were left with tiny fragmentations of eggshell and a pugnant odor of egg on our hands, we were asked to put the eggshell back onto the egg. I thought I had it figured out since I was able to de-shell my egg in about 5 or 6 fairly large pieces. Hahaha...yeah...funny. As close as I came to rebuilding the structure of my egg, I noticed several small pieces still missing. My egg wasn't as pretty as before either. It was cracked and the shell just didn't fit as well as it had when it was whole. Some people had an even harder time putting their egg back together. Their (and my) egg looked more like strange mosaics rather than a systematic whole.
The point you may ask? There are times in life where our worlds just come crashing down. It's inevitable. A parent at some point is going to die. We are going to continue struggling with that ONE sin (in the midst of many) that we just can't shake. We are going to feel betrayed by friends. If you're anything like me, I feel as though when these trials hit, I can fix them on my own. "I know what I'm doing and I don't need any help from anybody," is the trick that I play on myself. I like to feel independent of everyone else. The problem comes when I look at my life (the egg) that I tried to put back together, and all I'm left with is dents and holes and cracks, and a more pugnant stench than before.
But there is One who is able to take our vulnerable, naked, shell-less bodies and clothe us again and make us whole. All we must do is turn to Him and realize that things can't be done by ourselves. It's okay to admit our faults to the One who created them. That's my challenge...relying on God more than I rely on myself.
This weekend I was part of the staff at a retreat for junior high and high school teenagers. It was amazing. One of the object lessons involved boiled eggs. Everyone got their own egg and was asked to take the shell off. Once we were left with tiny fragmentations of eggshell and a pugnant odor of egg on our hands, we were asked to put the eggshell back onto the egg. I thought I had it figured out since I was able to de-shell my egg in about 5 or 6 fairly large pieces. Hahaha...yeah...funny. As close as I came to rebuilding the structure of my egg, I noticed several small pieces still missing. My egg wasn't as pretty as before either. It was cracked and the shell just didn't fit as well as it had when it was whole. Some people had an even harder time putting their egg back together. Their (and my) egg looked more like strange mosaics rather than a systematic whole.
The point you may ask? There are times in life where our worlds just come crashing down. It's inevitable. A parent at some point is going to die. We are going to continue struggling with that ONE sin (in the midst of many) that we just can't shake. We are going to feel betrayed by friends. If you're anything like me, I feel as though when these trials hit, I can fix them on my own. "I know what I'm doing and I don't need any help from anybody," is the trick that I play on myself. I like to feel independent of everyone else. The problem comes when I look at my life (the egg) that I tried to put back together, and all I'm left with is dents and holes and cracks, and a more pugnant stench than before.
But there is One who is able to take our vulnerable, naked, shell-less bodies and clothe us again and make us whole. All we must do is turn to Him and realize that things can't be done by ourselves. It's okay to admit our faults to the One who created them. That's my challenge...relying on God more than I rely on myself.
