I went to the beach the other day. I felt I needed to get away for awhile - life has been so busy that I can hardly remember whether I'm coming or going most of the time. The water was shallow a long ways out. I didn't feel comfortable going out far enough to swim, so I walked along the edge of the water, contemplating life and enjoying the feel of sand between my toes. The shoreline was littered with flotsam and jetsam, and I had to walk with care lest I step on something I had rather not. In my wanderings I picked up a pair of seashells, old and spotted with barnacles, making me want to take them home and sketch them - I have not even had the desire to pick up my sketching tools in months. I put them in my bag and forgot about them till I got home and put them on my desk to deal with later. I didn't think of them again until I heard a clunk as one of them rolled off the edge of the desk.My first though was "mouse," but when I saw the shell on the floor the answer popped into my mind with a sickening thud - "hermit crab." I felt a faint shiver of horror wash over me at the though, and it only solidified as I looked inside to see little legs tightly curled deep inside the shell. The other one was likewise occupied, and I struggled with what to do with them. I dreaded the thought of that peculiar, pungent aroma that only emanates from dead hermit crabs. Well do I remember that smell from my youth! Then I had an epiphany - my sister! (not that she would like them any better than I did - but my nieces might!) I was already planning a visit, so I took my stowaways on one more trip. Needless to say they were a hit - in my opinion, my nieces take after their aunt. Perhaps I flatter myself.
Anyway... The whole episode got me to thinking about appearances, about how something can look good on the outside and yet have a stinky, smelly thing curled up inside of it, and again, how a thing can seem dead and cold on the outside and yet have life hidden deep within it's core, waiting to come out. I wonder how many things in my life are like that - their truth hidden by the obvious. Yet the thought gives me comfort, for I do not always like my "shell," and I would hate to think that all I am is summed up in the reflection in the mirror. I wonder sometimes why I care so much what others think of me, when that is not the sum total of who I am. I have a greater judge who's judgment is not clouded by appearances. In the book of First Samuel, God says, "the Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”* That is both a gladdening and a terrifying thought.
*1 Samuel 16:7
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1 comment:
Very good post. I also remember the hermit crabs from my child hood. My brothers and I would bring them home with us and keep them as pets. We usually used one of my mothers mixing bowls for the project. I remember the day she made us stop. We brought some home along with a supply of sea water. That night they clanked around in the glass home and kept my parents awake. The next day they took them back to the beach and decreed that we could not bring home anymore.
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