The Egg of Hope


January 21, 2019

Let me tell you a story. Because, well, I like telling stories. And like much of what matters to me, it revolves around farm life and life lessons. So, I’m going to introduce you to the Egg of Hope.

My coworkers, were they reading this, would likely be laughing at just the title. Because they have put up with me and my “hopeful eggs” for years. Each year, at approximately the same time, I come in wildly excited about an egg. Yep, an egg. None of them are farm kids or have chickens, so this is quite novel to them. But this egg, in what feels like the dead of winter, is a hallmark of hope and of spring and brings me immense joy and excitement. Let me tell you why…

In the natural order of things, chickens egg production is ruled by the length of daylight. I firmly believe that this is an excellent way that God gave our hens to have a period of rest and renewal. In a typical year, a hen will lay about five eggs a week, not quite one a day, with production peaking in the longest days of the summer. As the year progresses and the days shorten, the production slows down and finally, usually in late November or early December, my chickens stop laying eggs altogether. If you pay attention, production very closely follows the hours of daylight each day. As they shorten, so does the egg production lessen. It makes sense to me. Our birds need to store up energy and fat for winter and conserve their resources. Don’t we all do that? Certainly, I watch my horses do the same as they grow their thick winter coats and pad on a few more pounds as the days get colder.

Well, even though the days remain cold and even get much colder, there comes a day, usually in mid-February, where I find an egg in the nesting box when I tend to the chickens. I don’t really want to embarrass myself, but in all honesty, I spend time in the henhouse thanking the chickens, holding that one pitiful little egg reverently in my palm. My day will be colored with joy and hope, and I tend to make my friends and coworkers crazy as I tell them that I found the first egg of the year. I am sure they think it is a bit nuts to be so excited about one little egg when I can certainly buy an entire dozen at the store at any time. But, this egg is significant, and here is why…

This egg, this first egg, deep in what feels like the middle of winter in our cold Wisconsin climate, tells us that even though we cannot see it, spring is coming.

It tells me that even though I cannot feel it, warmer days are coming.

It tells me that my birds, created by God to follow the seasons in ways that I don’t intuitively do, know that spring is coming and they are getting ready. See, they feel the hope and promise long before I do, long before it is evident.

This egg, this one measly egg, is held in my gloved hand, with a scarf around my neck, heavy coat and boots on, as I am fully geared to deal with the harsh elements. But this miraculous egg tells me that soon the sun will feel warm, I will shed the heavy clothing and be able to see buds on the trees and shoots coming up from my flower beds. I can’t see it yet, and it will still take time, but it is coming and there is actual PROOF.

So, as you walk a dark and difficult season of life, as it seems like it may never end, keep your eyes open for your own egg of hope. It doesn’t mean that this season is over, or that it is less painful, but the truth is that spring is going to come. It will, even if you cannot see it today. My chickens know it, and they foretell it each and every year for me. Hold onto whatever it might be that gives you a moment of hope and comfort. Choose small things that bring you comfort and peace. Each of those little things builds on each other and can help you get through until full spring arrives. Hold onto your faith, even if it is by the tips of your fingers because it will carry you through. The God of creation promises that spring will come. Each spring looks different and may come in with a storm of early March, or it may come in softly like a breath of spring air, but it will come. You do not walk alone, though you may not think you see it.

Just like that first egg promises that an unseen spring is coming, there are small things that will herald your coming spring. I choose to cradle that little, pitiful egg with sheer reverence and keep it in mind as I go about my days in the darkness and cold of winter. Just thinking of it brings me an internal feeling of warmth and hope and carries me through. After 12 years of raising chickens on our little hobby farm, that simple egg every year reminds me that God is always here and every year spring comes. In the darkness of difficult relationships, heartbreak and tragedy, there is at some point a little egg. I am slowly learning to find those little promises and enjoy even the difficult times.

Today is mid-January, and it is bitter, bitter cold here. Today I found an egg. This is early in the season, and likely there will be very few if any, eggs to be found for the next month or so, but after the last few weeks, I was struggling to find any hope. And today, God gave me an egg. That egg is a promise.

"For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11