Inside the pale, pink, shell laid a hermit crab all moist and cozy in her new home. “This shell would be different,” she thought. “I can live here forever.” After awhile, the newness wore off and the search began for a better shell. Kristy often moved in and out of shells quite frequently never finding the perfect shell. She knew there was one out there, but day after day her findings left her discouraged and crabby. This one’s too small, this one’s not the right color, and this one smells and so on.
As time went on she began to feel empty and cramped in her tight little space. She no longer socialized with the other crabs but withdrew deeper into her shell. This wasn’t like Kristy; she always had a zest for life and loved her fellow crabs. She felt hopeless unable to find the right shell. She was living the life of a hermit and failed miserably at that as well.
She felt itchy and dry as her skeleton body scraped the inner sides of the shell. “Why couldn’t I find the shell of my dreams?” She questioned. Unable to shed the tears, she sank deeper into despair until one afternoon a small gust of moist wind breezed through her shell loosening her joints. Setting herself free she ventured out and stumbled across a dingy yellowish shell covered with specks of sand. “This will have to do,” she thought. At that moment drops of rain began to fall washing the grains of sand uncovering the most beautiful shell she had ever seen. Her eyes once blinded by the muck, were now opened to the beauty that sat before her. She realized that she had passed this shell a hundred times in search of the perfect shell, when all she had to do was look beneath the surface.
Kristy started to shed the crusty, hard skeleton freeing her body to grow into her new home with plenty of space to move about. She rejoiced with her fellow crabs and with new eyes was able to see the path that lie ahead.
So many of us search aimlessly in all the wrong directions looking for the perfect shell for our lives that we fail to see God’s wonderfully, perfect path right in front of us. If we will let Him wash away our muck and shed the worries of life we can begin to grow in His perfect Will.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
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