A young blue jay clung to the branch of the oak tree outside my window, wrestling a still-green acorn from its stem. The stem eventually relented and he took his prize to some nearby rocks where he laid it in a crevice and tried, with much determination but little success, to crack it open. I suspect the unripened shell was a bit too rubbery and not yet ready to be cracked.
In nature, timing is everything. Or, as it says in Ecclesiastes, “There is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.” But sometimes we forget that we are part of nature, that our personality unfolds according to its own season and our soul according to its own purpose. We often try to make life conform to our own agenda or schedule. So we push relationships that aren’t meant to be, force ourselves to make changes we’re not ready to make, follow the road of our peers instead of the path of our soul, or close up shop on life when there is much more that we could be living.
Every season of your life has its own gifts and fruits to bear. Observe and follow the seasons of your soul, your own growth and healing. Let change proceed naturally and unforced. Life can be challenging enough without trying to crack open green acorns.