Is That a Turtle in My Soup?

Is That a Turtle in My Soup ?

          The sky is ominous and Charlie has been barking most of the morning.  I’ve been out several times to see what the issue is but I have no idea what would be causing him to bark continuously.  He is facing the garden area and I’ve been through it three times looking for little critters; rabbits, squirrels, birds, yet there is nothing that my old eyes can see.  

The compost pile catches my attention and I open the make shift gate which is a pallet.  This is to keep the critters out and the compost in.  I find what I am looking for and what has kept Charlie preoccupied most of the morning.  It is a little box turtle.  It quickly senses my presence and pulls its head into its shell and closes up shop.  It is as interesting to me as it has been to Charlie.  I never noticed how a turtle closes its shell before today.  I am curious as to what it is eating from the compost; coffee grounds, egg shells, onion peelings, more coffee grounds, an avocado peeling, potato peelings?  I notice a baby chameleon skirting around the pallets.  I watch both the turtle and the chameleon for a few minutes wondering if the turtle will poke his head back out and perhaps eat the chameleon.  At that thought the chameleon, as if he could read my mind, disappears off into the compost pile.

After several minutes I decide that the turtle is not going to pop his head back out, so I go back to the house to work on my list of things to do.  Charlie continues to bark.  I think about bringing him close to the turtle, but decide that would be a disaster and he would probably try to play with it and end up killing it like he did the possum.

When I go back out the second time the turtle has moved about four feet from where it was to the top of the compost pile.  I sneak up on it slowly.  It spies me but does not retreat to its shell.  It stays completely still watching me as I’m watching it.  It has a piece of grass in its mouth.  I watch it watch me.  We are having a stare down.  It is apparent that it will not move while I am close watching so I leave.

A little while later I go back a third time to see how far the little turtle has travelled but I cannot find it.  I look everywhere and it is nowhere to be found.  I wonder how a little turtle can move so far in such a short time and I am reminded of James 5:11 ~ Indeed, we count them blessed who endure.  You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord — that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.  PERSEVERANCE!

The turtle had a goal, a place to go.  Although I frightened it and prevented it from moving as quickly as it may have journeyed it was indefatigable.  Sometimes I think I have to be more like the turtle with my faith and my trust in the Lord.  Persevere.  Sometimes I feel like I am just going along slow and never reaching my goal. I realize my earthly goal can never compare to my heavenly goal.  But sometimes I feel like God has put me in a place not unlike the island of Malta where he stranded Paul; a time to be slow, a time to reflect, a time to heal, a time to be patient.  {Ecclesiastes 3:1-8}  There is a time for everything.

Living in a fast paced world, this is very bizarre to me.  Things need to be done.  I am impatient.  I want to race for the crown.  I want it now.  I want my knowledge.  I want my wisdom.  I want it now.   For three days I have been plagued with a terrible headache.  I never have headaches that last for more than a couple of hours.  I reflect on the turtle.  I am reminded that every single moment that God gives us is a teaching moment or a learning moment.  Am I teaching or am I learning?  The turtle is put in my life to teach me to slow down.  Will I learn?

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with the endurance the race that is set before us.  Hebrews 12:1

Just because I have a list of things to do and just because I want to get them done and get them done now, doesn’t mean it is the right thing to do or the right time to do it.  There is a time for everything.  There may be something that hinders our race (like a headache) to the crown, but if we are open to God’s leading and if we are indefatigable and we persevere, God is faithful.  He gives us not always what we want but always what we need.

© Crackerberries 2011