Hatch (Part II)

"The majority of my patients consisted not of believers but of those who had lost their faith."
 - Carl Jung

The average egg shell is 1/32 of an inch thick. Still. It's not easy to crack. Even for a baby chick, it takes a lot of work to escape. The shell does its job: it protects what it should for as long as it should, but then, make no mistake about it, even a simple chicken knows that it can become a trap.

When we fail to hatch, to become what we were truly meant to be in this world, we begin to spoil, we begin to go bad. That doesn't mean that we become bad people, it just means that in lieu of developing, growing and evolving, we choose instead a rather slow and laborious process of decay.

One can mark the beginning of this process much as Jung did; by noting the symptoms that accompany someone who has lost their faith. You see, when you're trapped in your shell there's nothing left but loneliness, doubt and worry. You can't believe in a light you cannot see, nor believe in a hope that you have prevented yourself from experiencing. There's nothing but stifling darkness and a lingering sense of dread.  You know, instinctively, just like that baby chick, that you were created to hatch. But you're afraid to.

I loved the picture from last week's blog, with all those check marks inside that shell. But here's the big question: are you marking off your days to a new beginning, or simply marking off the days until your end? What's that? "Oh," you say, "You don't understand! This is hard work. I'm tired. I'm scared. And this God that you keep referencing feels like He's miles away." I know. I hear you. But please believe me when I tell you that, actually, He's not that far away at all. As a matter of fact, I can tell you about how far away He is at any given moment.

About 1/32 of an inch.