Cracking the Egg

“Look Grammy, it’s coming out!” My granddaughter’s voice held awe. We were in the Chicago Museum of Science and Technology, which is chock full of interactive “stuff” for kids to experience. Now we stood watching a chick hatch from its egg. As the egg cracked open, the chickie began to wriggle its way into the light. A few minutes later, my granddaughter tenderly held the newborn chick in her hand.

I remembered this scene as I recently read a passage from The Book of Awakening by Mark Nemo. “From the view of the chick, being hatched is a terrifying struggle. Confined and curled in a dark shell, half-formed, the chick eats all its food and stretches to the contours of its shell. Finally its own growth cracks the shell... In that moment—as its world is breaking—the chick must feel like it is dying.

“Transformation always involves the falling away of things we have relied on. We feel as if the world as we know it is coming it an end. And that world is.”Yes. I have gone through transformations, and breaking out of my shell of “what-is” into the new world of “what will-be” has involved a sense of panic and pain. Yet the struggle has always been worth it.

What is struggling to be born in you? Is this a good day to ponder that? Don’t let fear keep you in a shell that has grown too small.