The Shell Game
Walking to the creek has been a big part of my life, through all of my growing up years, all times in between, and especially now. My wife Katrina and I, along with our children, love to frequent the creek beds (and swimming holes!) of Arkansas, which we affectionately call home. We are blessed to live near a creek, which has become a part of our regular routine as often as we can get there. As Katrina and I enjoy these visits, we get to walk together, play together, talk about our day and our struggles, and lift up our petitions to the Lord. We love this part of our life!
As we stroll the creek banks of our area, one thing that often grabs my attention in the midst of the millions of loose rocks strewn about is the empty shells, formerly inhabited by muscles. While I live with the understanding that these little dime-sized shells, usually cracked wide open, were once alive, I rarely see them alive in the water, closed tightly and enjoying their existence. They are mysterious creatures to me, one of those things on my long “Why God?” list. But I’m sure He had an amazing reason for putting them there to co-exist with the fish and the other organisms that call the creek their home.
In addition to the shells, the varying sizes and variety of fish gets my attention while we sit by the creek. As we leisurely enjoy our creekside times, I’m always amazed at the activity going on in the water, as well as above the water. During many of those times I get the idea that the fish need to be fed, as if they can’t figure out how to do that themselves during all the times I’m not around. In my mind, I think to myself, if only I had brought some morsels of food from home, like bread crumbs, or something. But I never do it, and rightfully so. Bringing food from our world and introducing it to theirs would not really be beneficial to them, and may only harm them in the whole scheme of things.
One fun game I’ve discovered over the years, though, is that if you pick up an empty muscle shell and toss it into the deep fish pools, the fish will speedily swim over to see if a morsel of food has arrived. Many of them, depending on their size, will peck and dive at the shell as it drifts to the bottom, but occasionally, one of the bigger fish will actually gobble up the shell. But after a quick sampling of the shell, they swim along and spit it out, only for the shell to drift to the bottom as the fish swims away, having lost interest.
This reminds me of the shell we build up around ourselves, trying to create an image of ourselves to the world, one that is perfect and flawless. We cast the shell of ourselves into the big pool of life, hoping we will trick a “fish” to pay attention to us and come darting to our side as we float to the bottom. Many times, we just float to the bottom, unnoticed by anyone, an empty shell of ourselves forgotten by the world. But then there is that one time, when just the right fish comes along. We get gobbled up by the fish, joyful that we have gained the attention of someone, happy to be swimming along in the mouth of the fish. Then, all of a sudden, the fish discovers it’s been tricked. It swims along a bit, then spits us out, leaving us to float to the bottom. There we are, submerged in the pool of life, dead weight at the bottom as the creek waters flow by our submerged shell of a self.
While I am not a marine biologist, what I do understand about these shells is that the heart of the shell is the muscle inside. When they are thriving and growing, nestled inside their protective home, they are settled on the bottom of the creek bed, growing and reproducing, filtering the water that is flowing over them as they gather nutrients. They are performing their mission as the fish around and above them perform their mission. They coexist, doing their part to contribute to the amazing ecosystem God created them to be in. They have been created to thrive!
That is our mission as well. God created us to thrive in our ecosystem. When we put a shell around ourselves trying to pretend to be a plethora of things we are not, we just die inside, wondering what we could have been, or we burnout pretending to be something we are not. Someone in your world has a need that only you can fill. Somewhere, there is a creek flowing that you were created to thrive in. Now go, be the muscle God created you to be!
But I still have one more question…where do the muscles go?