We Can’t Stay Eggs Forever

by Cole Benton Hatchard

It’s funny how we get so caught up in our own lives - our own plans. And by “we” I mean “I”. Maybe I mean “we”. I don’t know. I can’t speak for you. I can only speak for me, so that’s what I’ll do (and maybe it’ll help a little).

I have this perfect idea of what my life should look like: now, and in the future. And trust me, it looks flipping awesome. If only you could fathom my imaginative powers…

But things tend to come along that interrupt these intentions. Little hiccups along the way cause for some disarray in my carefully cultivated contrivances. 

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But why can’t we embrace that change? Why can’t we recognize that it’s changing us - growing us? If life were exactly as we expected it to be, we would remain the same static person forever.

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That sucks. But instead of cooperating, Cole usually loses it. He goes crazy. He stresses out. Maybe you’re like Cole. Maybe you’re that red personality who needs everything to go your way; as soon as it doesn’t, you feel as squished as grapes at a winery (as squeezed as a lemon on a juicer, as sour as a rotten orange in vinegar … apparently all of my similes involve fruit). 

But why can’t we embrace that change? Why can’t we recognize that it’s changing us - growing us? If life were exactly as we expected it to be, we would remain the same static person forever. Now THAT would be boring. That’s like being Ted Mosby: a character who doesn’t change for 9 entire seasons (I’m still not over that show). 

What if we let that change shape us? What if we allowed the diversity to evolve our reality? Why can’t we trust that this could be good for us? C.S. Lewis has a great quote:


"It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad."

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Let the change shape you. Your plans are probably awesome, like mine, but trust that what could be is better. Expect God’s plans to mess yours up. 

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We can’t stay eggs forever. Though we like the idea now of staying inside our sturdy cocoon of a shell, we could do so much more as a bird. We have no idea the potential we have to fly and be free! If we stay eggs, we’ll just inevitably rot. Or, get blended into some meathead’s protein shake. I’m not sure which is worse. 

I assume you’re like me and you can’t see the future. If you can, there’s a completely different conversation that you and I need to have. Otherwise, we don’t know what is to be. We like to think we do. I know I do. I’m pretty good at convincing myself what can and should be. But do I really know? CAN I really know? I can’t. I can’t comprehend life outside of my inferred integument: my egg shell. Not until I experience it. So I have to trust that what is outside might be better for me. I have to have faith that the plan God has for me is good. Why? Because He loves me. So even if it sucks at the moment, I can expect a substantially superior state of being in the end.

Let the change shape you. Your plans are probably awesome, like mine, but trust that what could be is better. Expect God’s plans to mess yours up. He’s a pretty smart dude, and though we don’t always see the end right now, we can know that what He has in store for us is for our good. Accepting and welcoming the change is infinitely better than staying an egg.