Letting The Shell Go: Embracing Spiritual Growth

I am always amazed at the process of gardening, the effort it takes, and the joy it brings to yield forth fruits and vegetables from seed. I am no expert by any means, but my husband and I do try to do the best to our knowledge when raising up fruits and vegetables. 

I had some quiet time this evening. Uninterrupted time is when thoughts pour in and roll around in my mind. As I heard the distant giggles of my children playing with their father outside, I peered out the window to notice our humble little garden. We just recently planted seeds on Mother’s Day and were so shocked to already see plants bursting from the soil. 

What I found most amazing in examining the plants was that they emerge from the soil with the seed still attached, but eventually, the full casing of that shell is discarded. The shell is useful, even critical, for sometime, but then it becomes an unnecessary component of the plant, not to be used anymore in the growth process. 

Then the thought came to me: the shell mimics our past and reflects where we are in the growth process, both in life and maturation. The Holy Spirit gave me a spiritual thought to think upon. The Bible says that we must put off the old man, the old ways, in exchange for newness of life in Christ. I can recall the day I was born again, ready to commit fully to Jesus and to be obedient to Him, despite what I wanted or how I might be tempted. I recall a deep desire to want to be apart of His plan and to call Him my Father. Many people sadly do not experience this. They cling to a past, a routine of life, a temporary fix, maybe even a religion, but never take hold of the newness of life or the promise of spiritual growth. Their lives are marked by the absence of releasing the shell. They live in a state of spiritual immaturity, completely out of free will. 

God’s intended purpose for our lives is to grow. God’s plan for you, reader, is to loosen the shell and bloom. In blooming, you produce the evidence of “fruits” or “vegetables” in your life. It is a satisfaction both pleasing to God and man. 

I want to encourage you with some scriptures that will help you on your journey of spiritual growth and maturity:

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

2 Corinthians 5:17

…That you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

Ephesians 4:22-24

Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

Romans 6:6

Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:4

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Romans 12:2

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

Romans 6:1-2

Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

Philippians 1:6

As I pondered this thought that Jesus gave me in my quiet time, I couldn’t help but think of how often we choose to live in the comfort of our pasts, good or bad, instead of taking the effort to change for our own sake and for the sake of the future generations. There’s so much you can learn from nature because it has such a simple rhythm of life. As people, we tend to overcomplicate things. Your situation may be complicated, and I don’t discount that; life is messy; life is hard. However, your responsibility is for how you will carry out your life and how you will impact others. Are you holding on to a past and living in it because you’re too afraid to try something new? Are you grieving in a moment of time and feel like most days you’re treading water not to think about it, and sadly, in treading water, you live in a fog regarding the things happening around you? I too struggled with a past filled with bitterness. I used to let it consume me to the point that it would affect those I loved most. In bitterness, there was no chance that I was going to grow. How could I when I carried around a weighty, stumbling block that kept me down? It’s kind of like that shell I mentioned earlier. The release of the shell signals a change in growth, a new stage. Holding on to bitterness was never going to allow me to progress in life. So, with God’s help and my husband’s prayers, I learned to let it go. I chose to release the shell in exchange for fruitfulness. Ask yourself: What do I need to let go of? What do I need to revisit in my past to let go of the things that are holding me back?

For the sake of my family, my future legacy, and my own sanity, I had to choose a better path. You know, sometimes among the chaos, the confusion, the conflicts, we become so consumed. We do not stop to evaluate our strongholds and weaknesses to see how they align with the Fathers design for our lives. It’s time to let the shell go and focus solely on what maybe is only understood between you and God. Intimacy with Him and listening to His voice is the solution to moving forward.