Monday, January 13, 2014

Life Lessons from a Hermit Crab

In life you get advice from people on dating, parenting, school, food, diet, etc.  It's been two years, to the day, since my heart attack.  At this time 2 years ago, I was sitting in an emergency room and they were trying to figure out what in the world had happened.  Since then, I've realized more and more...that my advice needs to come less from other people and more from God.  More from examining myself, examining my heart, praying for His clear guidance and stepping out in faith.



So how does this relate to a hermit crab?  Last week, my oldest Superhero had earned his hermit crab.  He had taken care of our dogs for a full month (and then some) and now got to get a new pet.  Since I'm not comfortable with taking on more than I need...it was narrowed down to hermit crab or fish.  We went to the pet store with my starry eyed boys.  They were soooo excited.  Each one had a small cart and planned on helping stock up on the supplies we needed.  We quickly found an employee to stock up our cart and then went to get the two crabs.

Easy right?  Superhero #1 got his and it was gently set in the palm of his hand.  He patiently sat there and the crab sat patiently.  Superhero #2 picked his and since he was a little skittish, we set the hermit crab on my hand and the kind young college employee left to get a container.  This is where things got a bit dicey!  Superhero #2's crab decided I was a fun surface to latch onto.  Not just latch onto but DEATH GRIP!  It took plus or minus 5 minutes, two employees, four to five removal techniques, and finally a full body baptism of the crab in a pitcher of water to get him to release and even still he held on under water for 30 seconds or so.  Three days later and I still have a little pincher bruise from the bugger!

So what did I learn from the crab?  I'm a lot like him.  I get a little skittish when I'm out of my comfort zone and then when I relax and decide it's my new comfort zone...I LATCH ON WITH A DEATH GRIP and refuse to let go.  It might not even be in my best interest!  At the big chain pet store...there were a TON of crabs in one little tank.  I was offering him greener pastures, he didn't know this, but he needed to trust me.  But once we trust God and allow Him to (stay with me now...I know it's a stretch) submerse us with His spirit...we may hang onto the old for a bit but eventually we learn that it's just so much better to let go than to be suffocated by our old ways.

This has been my journey the past 2 years.  I've been learning little by little with many steps forward and many steps backwards that I need to trust God more even if I don't know what's ahead.  I'll be honest with you...right now I'm having a hard time sitting and trusting what is in our future.  The loss of my dad, the anniversary of my heart attack, seeing my boys growing so quickly, leaves me a bit unsettled.  I want to KNOW what is up next.  I want to have a plan.  There are things I want and long for but I don't know if they're in our future.  But God wants us to trust and His plan has always been so infinitely better than mine.

Oh...and by the way.  We did get the hermit crabs, Hermie and Mike.  They're happily living in a 20 gallon tank with fresh water every day, daily misting by their boys, and fresh food in their dish daily.  They even have a little cave to hang out in if they feel like "getting away from it all."  The only one a bit skittish around them is me.  :-)

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