Coco Calling No.163 - What’s In an Egg?

Just over 21 years ago, I emerged from an egg measuring no more than 2.5 inches long and about an inch wide. I have always found it very hard to imagine how my large personality could have once been contained inside such a small object. But here I am, living proof of the miraculous force of Creation.

I often feel very sorry for humans. Because they have a strange obsession with eggs, even though they don’t seem able to lay any decent ones of their own. And because of this, they often lay claim to the eggs of my feathered friends, and then eat them! Boiled, fried, poached and scrambled. There’s even a song which goes: “How do you like your eggs in the morning?!”

And rather bizarrely, human language is full of strange egg idioms. Humans say things such as “don’t put all of your eggs in one basket” or “it sticks like egg.” They “egg one another on”; they get “egg on their face”, they call clever folk “egg heads” and they call bad people “bad eggs”. Humans throw eggs at politicians that they don’t like and they even put-up signs saying “Free Range Eggs” and then charge you for taking them away. It all amounts to very strange behaviour, and I think it’s just as well that parrots don’t treat human embryos in quite the same way.

But that’s not all of it. Humans have invented chocolate eggs for Easter time and extravagant Faberge eggs for rich people to buy when they don’t know what else to spend their money on. And even human politicians use egg analogies when trying to make a pertinent point. Margaret Thatcher once said:

“It may be the cock that crows but it is the hen that lays the eggs.” (Margaret Thatcher: the UK’s first female Prime Minister 1979-1990).

Clearly there is something very unique and special about eggs. (And I’m not just saying this because I came out of one). They teach us about life and the miracle of creation. We should always be gentle with eggs because once broken, they are impossible to repair. And yet a normal hen’s egg can absorb 100lbs of pressure if it is applied to the end rather than the side. And if an egg is broken by outside force, life ends. If broken by inside force, life begins. Great things can start from deep within, often hidden away from view. And it can be so easy for humans to come along and mindlessly destroy something that is so full of unfulfilled potential. Unfortunately, a lot of that goes on every day around the world.

Humans and Creation are both God’s invention. God yearns for us all to fulfil our potential in life. Anything or anyone that prevents us from doing so is not complying with His wishes. In fact, unfulfilled potential is such a tragic waste:

“There is no heavier burden than an unfulfilled potential.”

(Charles Schulz: 1922-2000: American cartoonist and creator of the comic strip ‘Peanuts’).

“There is no man living who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can do.” (Henry Ford: 1863-1947: Founder of the Ford Motor Company).

But this isn’t just about us fulfilling our potential in worldly terms. God wants us to become individuals that can make this world a better place for all. We all have the potential to give, to help, to share and to love:

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works…” (Ephesians 2:10a).

“I can do everything through Him who gives me strength”. (Philippians 4:13).

And because of Jesus Christ, we have all been given the most extraordinary potential of all; the opportunity to live again after we die!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16-17).

So do we waste our potential and therefore our lives, rather like smashing a newly laid egg? Or do we seize the opportunity that we’ve all been given, allowing God’s presence to work through us for the good of the world and ourselves? That’s a question we should be asking every single day…

#egg #creation #potential