Barnacles

More thoughts inspired by my love of the sea. Growing up in New Jersey, I spent most of the summers down by the Jersey shore. I loved to find shells and pieces of sea glass. Rarely, I could find a barnacle washed ashore. Their shape appealed to me and it was only years later that I learned the barnacle produces one of the most powerful natural glues on earth. In their mature stage they attach themselves to a rock or submerged surface. Don't bother trying to pry them loose.



I read a wonderful article in a Christian Science periodical about how boat owners can deal with barnacles crusting the bottom of their vessels. This kind of growth slows the boat down and it does not respond well to its captain. You could take the boat out of the water and use heavy duty machinery to clean the hull but this causes damage. A better solution is to sail your boat into fresh water. Barnacles need salt water. Expose them to fresh water and they will eventually die and drop off on their own.



We occasionally become aware of something that has lodged in our thought or on our bodies that we would like removed. We can try medical means, and might even get some temporary relief, but sometimes the side effects are worse than the original problem. And that does not remove whatever caused it in the first place. It can, and often does, return. The whole process can be damaging. How much better to 'sail our boat' into fresh water, purify our thinking. Our real identity as an idea of God remains untouched. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health that 'Christian Science presents unfoldment, not accretion". Accretion is something that is added from without vs. that unfoldment which comes from within. The only growth we ever want to encouarge is spiritual. Why allow barnaclelike, stubborn opinions or habits accumulate until they seriously impede your progress, your ability to move forward.

Go in peace, free from baranacle.