you may have a heart of gold - but so does a hard-boiled egg

dear emily,

i had the frustrating experience of peeling a dozen eggs this week.  one
stubborn shell kept grabbing chunks of its nutritious 'white', no matter
how carefully i plied.   in agitation, i chucked it down the disposal.  that
was satisfying, until i realized i had just thrown the baby out with the bath
water.

many of my friends had counsel for me.  "pour a little salt in the boiling
water . . . pour some baking soda in the water . . . boil for 5 minutes . . .
boil for 20 minutes . . . let cool water run between the shell and the egg
after boiling . . . only use old eggs."

if i could have run cool water between the shell and the egg, then i could
have removed the darn shell instead!    why would i want to eat an old
egg?   and, how did i get to be such an old egg without knowing how to
peel them??

in many ways i am like those pesky eggs.   i hold onto my shell with such
tenacity that my very skin and muscle seem to peel away with its removal.  
thankfully, the Lord has put patient people around me who, hopefully, will
not throw me down the disposal.

love,
lea

"love is patient, love is kind . . ."  I corinthians 13:1