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The Nymph Shell

Photo: My dad. :)

 Sitting by the river on a rock, I noticed a little skeleton-like object. As I looked a little closer, it looked like what had been a dragonfly nymph.
 
I had gone home with some friends this particular Sabbath, because we were planning to go to Bar Harbor the next day. We went for a walk by a river that was near my friends' house, and we were all supposed to look for object lessons in nature, and share them with the others after our walk. (Unfortunately, I didn't share this one then-or any of the other ones I gained- but I can share this one now!) As I looked at the nymph shell, I thought about how the nymph had to completely leave behind it's exoskeleton to become a dragonfly- a new creature.
 
So it is with us. We must completely leave off the old nature if we would be Christians. The dragonfly couldn't be half nymph and half dragonfly. We can't be half with the world and half with Christ. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Matthew 6:24. Of course this is only possible with Jesus' help. "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Isaiah 41:10.
 
So, may we press forward, leaving behind the old nature just as the dragonfly left behind it's nymph shell!
 
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17.

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