Humpty Dumpty: Yesterday at church before the third meeting, I handed Roni off to Buns (to learn more about the third meeting, click here). I was a free woman! Hollaaaa. For one hour, I could sit and enjoy the messages that were shared. The meeting started off with a thought from a sister who has had a tough hand dealt to her in life. She started off by sharing very personal struggles. She is a beautiful woman but shared her struggles with self-esteem and self-worth. Throughout her life because of her past, she has felt at times, worthless. My heart sank.
That morning before she church, she was getting ready, going over in her head the message she had already prepared to share with us. She looked at herself in the mirror and thought of the movie she watched with her children the night before, Puss in Boots. It seemed silly but her heart swelled, and she knew she needed to bag the message she had already prepared and share the story of Humpty Dumpty (according to Puss in Boots) instead.
I've never seen the movie, but from what I understood, Humpty was known as a criminal in the beginning. Puss in Boots, the defender of good, and Humpty Dumpty, the criminal, became the most unlikely friends. In the beginning, Humpty robbed the bank and Puss was framed, so they had to flee from the police. Throughout the movie, they face all sorts of adventures and obstacles. Some they overcame easily and some not so much. At the end of the movie, Humpty Dumpty wants to fix his mistakes and sacrifices himself to save the day by jumping off of a canyon cliff (I'm probably slaughtering this story haha but we're gettin' to the good stuff). When Puss in Boots goes to see where Humpty fell in the canyon, he sees a Golden Egg surrounded by cracked egg shell. Humpty survived the fall, and Puss says, "I always knew you were good inside."
The woman that told this story explained that sometimes its hard to find the good in others or even to find the good in yourself. We are hard on others and even harder on ourselves: we are our worst critics. We let outside appearances or past indiscretions taint our opinions of others and contort the lens through which we see ourselves. We're quick to pass judgement instead of quick to forgive and love. She told about how ironically she was driving to church and passed by a man that she immediately judged based on his outward appearance. She caught herself mid-judgement and was reminded of Humpty Dumpty: the Golden Egg. She felt impressed that he was someone's Golden Egg. That we are all someone's Golden Egg. That we are all God's children, and we need to see people as who they can become. Seeing them as someone who's has tremendous worth and potential. Because we've all got serious potential, if only we could see it!
And that was her message: That we are all Golden Eggs. We all have imperfections and parts of ourselves that we feel just don't quite make the cut. Parts of us that make us feel less than. Things about ourselves we wish we were better at. This woman shared that in the eyes of the world, she might not have accomplishments or characteristics that define her as successful and beautiful. But in God's eyes, she is both. In God's eyes she is more beautiful than she can even fathom. I can't even begin to describe the power that was in her message! I felt strength and reassurance in the fact that I am a Golden Egg. That you are a Golden Egg! I felt confidence in that truth. We all have such different exteriors and live in such different circumstances, but we find common ground in that we are all beautiful sons and daughters of a God who loves us with a love that is infinite and unconditional. I hope you feel that today. Especially if today is a day you feel a little less than or like you're not quite enough. Because you are. For heaven sakes, you really are!
Cheers to being Golden Eggs y'all.
❤, Ashton Tilton
