The hen is rising...

Did you know that if you squeeze an egg as hard as you can in your hand, it's very unlikely that you can break it? And yet the most delicate tap can cause the same egg to break right open.

Did you know that a fresh egg can be left on the shelf for 3 weeks and not spoil? (This may not be true for a grocery store egg that has been cleaned.)

Did you know that a chick inside an egg will not live if it cannot peck its own way out of that eggshell? If it does not have the strength to escape, it will not have the strength to survive.

God has marvelously created the egg to withstand the rigors of a hen sitting on top of a cluster of them, incubating them for about 21 days, while making the egg delicate enough that the tiny chick can break the shell with taps of his tiny beak. Once I had some chicks hatching out and one could not get out of the egg. I carefully assisted it to escape, but it was never a strong chick, even with all my tender loving care. And, as I'd always been told would happen, it died before reaching maturity.
-A quote from a recent email I got from Margaret Nelson, a missionary in Uganda.

As I was reading this, it reminded me of a lot of different circumstances around me right now. There are many situations of people trying to emerge out of difficult challenges. For some I think it is life or death for them. I have been extremely burdened by so much of it and it has left me so drained, disillusioned, tired and spiritually exhausted.

But in the midst of it I have come to realize the truth stated above: that sometimes you have to let people fight it out for themselves or they will never become strong enough to stand on their own feet. I have had to let go of the savior complex and let God be God in these people's lives. I have spent countless hours trying to remove the shell and help people emerge and in the end...they can't walk.

I think the ascension of Jesus is simply the Hen leaving the nest.

I too must discover how to ascend as well.