My nephew gave me a wonderful metaphor for becoming a fully functional man. He said that men are just little boys. We are only a shell of a man. But a good wife can draw a good man out of that shell.
I don’t know if that is universally true. Probably not. However, I do know that it is true for me. My wife has most definitely loved me into becoming a much better, more mature, more loving version of myself. She has done more than give birth to our children. She has also given birth to me!
In a general sense, that is what we are called to do, isn’t it? We do not become anything good alone. Of course, I believe that God works directly to help us with this business of coming out of our shells. However, God also frequently works on us through others.
We are all, male and female alike, young and old alike, designed and called to help one another become the truest version of ourselves.
It takes time, patience, and acceptance to become our real selves. It takes time, patience, and acceptance to help birth one another. And let’s be frank: Time, patience, and acceptance are rare elements these days. Perhaps we are all shells until someone draws us out of those shells. We need to let other people help us to unshell ourselves. And we need to help others to unshell as well. My spell-checker doesn’t like the word “unshell”, but I do. I am adding it to my dictionary. You might consider doing so as well.
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