Prayer and an Egg and Hope

[featured_image]I didn’t think an egg could ever be so helpful to me spiritually.

But it was.

Just an egg. And some guiding questions.

At a recent prayer retreat, we were encouraged to spend the afternoon in silence and solitude with God. Around the cabin where we were staying there were 4 or 5 different places to sit and contemplate some questions as you spent time alone with God. I made a commitment in my heart to fully engage with each of these activities. The first one that I went to was a bowl of eggs. At the top of the page I read: “Have Hope. The Spirit…moves.”

Then I read these simple instructions:

Pick up an egg and find a comfortable quiet place where you can sit and think.

So I sat at the table and picked up an egg out of the bowl. Immediately I wondered where this was heading. I felt my skepticism grow inside. Yet I continued to read…

As you sit, turn the egg gently in your hands. Feel the smoothness. Explore the egg with your fingertips. Feel the imperfections, the slight roughness.

Continue to explore the texture of the egg, carefully. To you, an egg may represent nothing more than breakfast. But in some other cultures, it represents far more; the hope for new life, the hope of a future.

Think about your future for a few moments. How do you fee about your future? Are you hopeful? Hopeless? Or somewhere in between?

I sat there at first thinking, “This is silly.” But as I felt the egg in my hands and explored it with my fingertips, I could sense the imperfections, the roughness, the uniqueness of the egg. I gave myself to the activity and started reflecting on my thoughts about the future. The question about whether I felt hopeful or hopeless really got to me.

I began to write in my journal, “I think I’m almost always hopeful about my future in general. Yet today when I think about…” and I listed ten things rather quickly that were discouraging in my life. The feelings that I experienced in those moments were not hopeful. I felt resigned, an unfulfilled longing, scared, stuck, like a failure, and inadequate. This exercise was not what I expected it to be.

And then I looked out the window at the sun and the snow. I realized that God is still in control and I can trust Him with my future. I reflected, “When I look at the circumstances I lack hope. When I look at God I’m filled with hope.”

I started reading again and continued my thoughts – “Holding the egg reminded me of the fragility of life and its circumstances. Looking at my present realities and wondering what will happen in the next five years is a little discouraging, yet looking to God I have hope.”
Then I read Romans 15:13:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may about in hope.” (ESV)

I finished reading the paper in front of me…

You’re held in the hands of someone who knows you and knows your future. Someone who loves you. Someone who wants you to experience peace, joy and hope. Bask in God’s love today.

I sat there holding the egg (which no longer felt silly) and realized that my only hope is in God. And in Him I can abound in hope. I have more than enough hope.

I don’t know where you may find yourself today, but I want you to put your hope in God. He is the “God of hope” and He will fill you with all joy and peace so that you may abound in hope!