It's no secret that life can be difficult; it’s a fact. From day to day, at the essential level, we do what we can to survive, yet we hope to thrive. Brookside Community Play’s staff is all too familiar with this dynamic as they walk with children and their families through life. Brookside Community Play’s efforts are making an impact in the Brookside community. They use a relational approach and ask probing questions of themselves to seek better ways to serve. This questioning often leads to creative solutions. 

Our middle and high school program, The Education and Employment Academy, recently adopted 2 hermit crabs as class pets. Hermit crabs live a cycle of outgrowing their shells and discarding them to don a more suitable one, changing out of instinct. This change is triggered when they feel discomfort. Sometimes they choose the right kind of shell, other times they choose the wrong which can lead them to disaster. 

The Academy director, Loyd recalls a particularly unsettled student’s interaction with these charming little creatures.

“One of the young ladies in the Academy, Tiffany, really connected with the hermit crabs. She took them home over Christmas break. She’s one of the students who really like to take them out of their terrarium and let them crawl on her hands. It’s fascinating to think about the journey of hermit crabs and how that parallels Tiffany’s own journey with The Academy. Many will know that hermit crabs don’t actually have their own shell. They find an abandoned shell that fits their body size, and when they outgrow it, they leave it and go find another shell. For me, it’s a beautiful picture of transformation. It parallels the kind of transformation we’ve seen in Tiffany this year. Early on in the school year, she was bullying another teen. As a result, she was asked to take some time away from The Academy. When she came back, it was like she was a different person. She knew she had been forgiven, and she was willing to acknowledge what she did to hurt another student, and also willing to make the changes. Now when you see her with the other students, she’s smiling, and just so happy to be here! Her old shell no longer fits!”

For us, changing shells is gaining a new mindset, posture, or outlook. Sometimes, like the hermit crab, it’s for protection. Other times, like Tiffany, it’s being accountable for our actions and humbling ourselves. This transformation was fostered through the environment created by Brookside Community Play staff who can point people to the right shell, the right path.

Transformation can be scary. It can be gradual or sudden. It is important to choose wisely because there’s danger in going the wrong way. Without guidance, the hermit crab will choose to inhabit a tin can or other debris if a better choice is not available; these limited choices are often fatal. Sometimes what we change into can have the same consequences.

Brookside Community Play staff and volunteers work to usher a child from survival mode to positive development. Loyd says, “It feels like a privilege and an honor just to get to know them, to journey alongside them, and to walk towards Jesus together.” Transformation is a part of life. It's important to do it right. That's where relationship comes in and enhances the change. Right transformation is the key; not every shell is the best for you.

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