Thursday, February 28
“God encourages those who are losing hope.” –Ecclesiasticus 17:24
Clams secrete proteins and minerals that enable their shells to grow. Snails and conch and nautilus secrete similar proteins and minerals to create new chambers in their spiraling shells. But hermit crabs have a different way of protecting themselves with shells.
Hermit crabs find abandoned shells and make them their homes. When the hermit crab grows too big for the shell it is living in, it leaves and goes to find another, larger shell. The old is left behind; the new becomes home.
Sometimes resilient hope is like the shells a hermit crab inhabits. There are times we simply need to let go of an old hope, an old dream. When we do, it may feel desolate. The promise, though, is that we will find another hope, another dream, to hold us and be our home.
What are the hopes you have had to abandon in your life? What new hope have you discovered?
God, we pray for wisdom to know when the hope we inhabit is no longer the right place for us. We pray for courage to set out in search of new hope. Amen.