Surrender and the empty robin's egg...

Yesterday when I was walking in my yard picking up stray twigs that the storm had knocked down, I spied something small and blue in the grass. You can imagine my amazement to discover it was a perfect robin's egg. At first I was saddened at the thought of this egg falling from the nest and trying to figure out how to get it back in without leaving my "scent" on it, then I realized it was empty. 

Perfect and empty.

That robin's egg was still on my mind today as I started out on my run, but something else was on my mind as well...the word surrender. 

With all that is going on in our nation right now, the word surrender might be taken the wrong way. Those who know me know that while I HATE confrontation, I'm not one to back down from a fight if I feel it's necessary. That's why the word surrender seemed like an odd word to meditate on while I ran, but meditate on it I did - that and the empty egg.

I pretty much understood the surrender part before my run even started. It's about surrendering to Christ, not the world or the battle at hand. With each plop of my foot on the pavement, I thought about that egg, that empty egg. I began to pray that I would be filled - heavy even with the Holy Spirit so that the "storms of life" wouldn't be able to toss me about like the wind had tossed that little egg out of the nest. I wanted to not just "look" perfect - I wanted to be filled.

That's when I started thinking about how we pray for those who don't agree with us that they will come to know Christ, that they would desire Christ more than anything else. More than their own desires. Then the thought hit me. Do I desire Christ more than anything else? I am praying that others will desire Christ more than pleasures of the world, but am I doing that myself? Do I desire Christ more than finances, freedom, even family, or am I willing to simply look perfect on the outside but remain empty within?

Freedom is on everyone's mind right now. The freedom we enjoy as a country, the freedom to be whoever we feel we are supposed to be...but what if I surrender my freedom? What if I give up MY rights to Christ and say "I surrender." I have no "rights." I do not belong to me.
Daniel did what was right in God's sight and for it he got the lion's den. The three Hebrew children did not bow to other gods (keep in mind, the ruler didn't say they couldn't bow to God, only that they had to ALSO bow to his statue) and for their stand they got the fiery furnace. And God delivered them all.

I'm not sure what surrendering to Christ will hold for me in the future, but I'm certain it is worth it. I don't want to be an "empty egg." 

Speaking of the egg, there is more to the story. As I walked along, I accidentally dropped the egg onto my driveway. It broke immediately! It was empty, and now broken. That reminded me of the verse that says  " Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” (Matthew 21:44) Stone, Rock, The Word of God. As I read the news, I want to ask myself daily...am I willing to fall on the rock myself before I answer the questions I see?

One more thing has been running through my mind the past couple of days with all the "love wins" phrases being tossed out. It's a quote from Forrest Gump. "I may not be a smart man, but I know what love is."

1 John 3:16 (NIV)

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

Who knew that for me, the surrender flag would be robin's egg blue.