A BEAUTIFUL GIFT

During the weekend retreat for my Companions in Christ class last May, our thoughtful host put out several seashells that she had collected over the years, each of which had a special meaning to her. She asked each of us to pick one to keep. Most of the shells were shiny and beautiful, of various shapes and sizes and with different nuances of color, each unique.

One of the shells I immediately disliked. It was a typical small spiral conch, grayish and pockmarked, with a large piece of the outer shell missing. I thought it ugly. I looked at the other shells – all of them attractive – but seemed unable to make a choice. Perhaps half an hour passed, and I was still unable to choose. I said a quick prayer for help and found myself reaching out, to my surprise, for the ugly conch shell.

I held the shell in my hand and turned it over. It was very light. On the inside of the broken outer shell was a delicate pattern of lines, and part of the inner coil that had been protected was shiny and smooth, with a lovely shade of golden brown. The shell’s outer deterioration belied an extraordinary beauty on the inside. I saw my shell in a completely different light.

Some months later a friend and I were stuck in a cardiologist’s small waiting room. The doctor had been delayed in surgery, and the room was packed. Someone in the office mentioned that most of the people the doctor saw didn’t exercise. I noticed that many patients were overweight, and some sat in wheelchairs. My half-conscious thought was, “Well, what do they expect?” My reaction, I later realized, was not unlike that to my shell.

Some of us in the waiting room began a conversation. I learned that one young mother whose son was with her had inherited her heart condition from her father. I wondered if her son would inherit it, too. A man in a wheelchair saw a former coworker and started talking to her. After a while, he told her of his work with children in Africa who had been orphaned by AIDS, and he praised the Lord for the miraculous ways in which God works in people’s lives.

A shockwave of self-realization paralyzed me. I was stung by my negative judgments of these people I had never known, and I realized that God had used this opportunity to once again get me to see beyond the outer shell to the inner beauty.

That which is perceived as ugly revealed by the grace of God to be truly beautiful: what a wonderful gift.

— Laurie Juliana

Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist