It’s All About the Shedding!

I once had a snake named Cleopatra. She taught me so much about life just by observing her. One day she was below the shavings in her cage and I noticed she wasn’t eating. When she emerged every now and then, her eyes were cloudy. Days went by until one day I saw her shedding her skin. It started from her head and the skin just seemed to fold down. Eventually she got to her tail. It took so long as she moved around to release the last of the skin. Because of the way she moved, I imagine that her new skin felt different on the shavings and she probably had to get used to it again. She had outgrown her skin. If she wouldn’t have shed it, she would have died. Her skin would have suffocated the new growth.

Perhaps it is with us, too. Change slowly comes over us and maybe we back away for while. Then one day we are encouraged to take on the new transformation. Maybe we get in the middle and want to go back, but just like my snake, one can’t put the skin back on. As we emerge with newness it may feel uncomfortable for awhile as we move in familiar places with an unfamiliar transformation. Bit by bit we grow into our newness. And just like my snake, if change doesn’t find us and we embrace it, we, too, seem to die a bit to ourselves as we suffocate our inner spirit.

Are there hurts and pains you are needing to shed? What is holding you back from growing? What changes are you experiencing? What about your life is shedding? How are you caring for yourself in the shed?

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