I’ve got eggs all over my house. Not real ones, mind you—plastic, glass, wooden.

It started nearly thirty years ago, back in undergrad. I needed a science credit and decided to take physics over the summer at our local community college. I was anxious—completely overwhelmed by the final exam. I thought physics would be fun, but I quickly felt discouraged. I’ve never had a brain for science.

That morning, I came downstairs to find my brother had left me a small, decorated egg he’d discovered in our living room. He’d wrapped it up and placed it on the kitchen table with a note saying it was a symbol—that everything would be okay, that I’d do well, and that this hard moment would pass.

It was just a Fabergé-style egg, something my mom used as decoration. But I carried it with me to the test. Holding it brought me a strange sense of peace. I passed the exam—and returned the egg to its place in the living room.

And just like that, a tradition was born.

Since then, whenever my brother or I go through something difficult, we send each other an egg—a symbol of new life, of something better on the horizon. That’s why I now have eggs scattered throughout my home: because life is full of hardship (so many eggs). They remind me that healing isn’t linear—or something we’re ever really done with. Life is twisty, curvy—definitely an unpredictable road.

I loved Mary Magdalene Revealed by Meggan Watterson. I was thrilled to read how much symbolism she attributes to the egg. She writes that the egg represents the hidden, sacred feminine—something whole, mysterious, and life-giving. It’s a symbol of creation, fertility, and transformation, aligning with Mary Magdalene’s role as a bearer of hidden wisdom (an apostle to the apostles). The egg also represents potential and rebirth. Just as life emerges from within the shell, Mary Magdalene’s teachings emphasize awakening the soul from within - breaking through societal constraints to access our own God-given divine truth. Watterson invites us to see the egg as a symbol of embodied spirituality—of living from the soul.

So now, when I hold an egg, I’m not just remembering my brother’s kindness or the storms I’ve weathered. I’m remembering that I am whole. That new life is always possible. That I carry the divine within me. That I can rise again and again. The egg reminds me we are always building capacity for the harder parts of life.

Friends, this social worker passed physics!!