lessons from a chambered nautilus

August was my favorite month as a child. I was blessed with a full and happy childhood growing up in New Jersey. My Aunt Juanita had a beach house large enough to accomodate all the relatives and we spend most of August there. To this day I love early morning walks along a beach, even along the Gulf of Mexico now that I am in Texas. Or along the California coast with my son Matt. It was a quiet time when everyone else was sleeping and I could stroll along the tide lines looking for gifts from the sea.

That is also the title of a book by Anne Morrow Lindberg. She divided her life into phases and compared them to the sea shells she found during a two week spiritual retreat on an island. One chapter referred to the chambered nautilus. I have a small collection of books about sea shells and this month my room is decorated with an ocean theme. I don't have an actual chambered nautilus shell but I went to our local rock and gem shop and bought a fossilized ammonite that had been cut in half and polished. It looks much like I image the nautilus shell to be.

What makes this creature so inspiring to me is the way it grows and develops. As it develps it's everexpanding spiral, it seals off the previous chamber that it has now outgrown. Before it does that, it pushes out any debris that may have accumulated. Each section is then watertight and filled with air. This gives bouyancy. The more chambers outgrown, the greater the bouyancy. I'd like to compare my own spiritual growth to that. How important to discard any old wrong thinking or left over hurts or disappointments. Any memories that cause pain. Why entomb that weight to impede my ablility to be uplifted and upheld. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health: "The way to extract error from mortal mind is to pour in truth through flood-tides of Love." Divine Love works with us to forgive, to love more and fear no ill.

Float in peace today