Simple Egg

One simple egg came this week and it was news worthy! “Way to go Amy (and Jason, Sam, and Isabel!)” I was so happy for them to the point that I felt the need to write about the arrival of the first egg. 

You see, my sister-in-law Amy sent an email to share her good news. After a long summer her baby chicks had turned into chickens and had finally produced the first egg. It was simply an egg from a chicken: nothing fancy; nothing special; except that it was the first. (And has no additives!). 

Eventually all of her chickens together will daily produce a dozen or more eggs and the newness of this simple egg will pass. Or does it have to? The cool thing about us as humans as we have the capacity to remember and to celebrate over and over again events like this simple egg; if we want to.   

Remember your first kiss? How about your first car or apartment or friend? How about the first leaf that fell this fall or the first crocus that pushed its way up through the snow this past spring. All of these are simple events that brought us joy when we experienced them and have been forgotten in time. But, they are sitting in our memories waiting to come up so that we can again smile and remember them with fondness.   

The newness of things doesn’t need to drift away and become forgotten as we long for something new. Yes, kittens eventually become cats; new cars eventually lose that ‘new-car-smell’. Over time that first love turns into a relationship that requires growth and flexibility. The new baby eventually grows up and moves away. The new toy becomes set in a closet. The new apartment eventually becomes the place that you always come home to. But time shouldn’t stop us from celebrating and recapturing the joy of the time when it was new.  

One thing that helps me to continue in this place of rejoicing for simple things is to write them down so that I won’t forget. Every event is worth celebrating and sharing with others and to give thanks to God for ALL the things that I get; big and small. The Bible says that we are to ‘give thanks in everything; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you’ (1Thessalonians 5:18). 

Another thing that helps me to remember the simple things and give thanks is to recognize where it all comes from. The Bible says that ‘every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variation or shadow of turning.’ (James 1:17). 

So, “Good job Amy!” Your persistence in feeding and providing a shelter for the chickens and roosters has paid off with a simple egg. More importantly, the simple egg brought up a flood of memories for me of things and people who were once new in my life. And, I rejoiced and once again was happy just like I was after the read the email announcing the arrival of a simple egg.