The Chicken and the Egg

I raise chickens and goats and dogs and ducks.  It is a crazy mixed up world at my house.  But this little thought is so true.  We eat the eggs that our chickens lay, and the life that might have grown from the inside is definitely ended.  But, when our hens are sitting, they stay on the eggs and keep them warm and the chicks hatch by pecking their way out of the shell and into the world.  There life begins. 
I love how this metaphor shows us that great things always begin from inside.  You have to be honest inside, before you can be honest outside.  You have to be happy inside, before you will find happiness outside.  You have to be spiritual inside, before you will find God on the outside.  It is what we focus on inside that really matters. 
They say that you can't sin without thinking about it on the inside first.  You have to desire it and dwell on it.  It makes repentance so much harder.  I think that great things ,and also small things begin on the inside of ourselves.  Life is hard enough.  We are surrounded by bad news and negative behaviors.  If we don't fix ourselves on the inside first, we will be overcome by the forces that are all around us. 

I love the old quote that says:
All the water in the world,
however hard it tries,
can never sink the smallest ship,
unless it gets inside.
All the evil in the world,
the blackest kind of sin,
can never hurt you
one least bit,
unless you let it in.

So today, I am going to try just a little harder to protect the life that is within me.  To protect that spark of divinity that dwells in my heart.  I am going to focus on strengthening myself from the inside instead of waiting for someone else to do it from the outside.  From the inside is life.  Life is a gift from God.  He knew exactly what we would need to be strong and live with him today.   He has made us great from within.  We are His children.  He loves us.  He wants us to be closer to Him.  Perhaps that is really what we need to remember.