Today I am thinking about my friends the Turtles... Not the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of my son's youth... although I did like those fellows... especially Michelangelo and his crazy appetite for pizza...
No, today I am thinking about the little creatures (or not so little as the picture shows) who I keep seeing along the sides of the road. Yesterday, in the POURING rain, I pulled over... got absolutely soaked... and helped this one off the side of the road and into the grassy area... unlike other turtles I have rescued, this one would jump with all four legs as I got him close to the ground... he wasn't going to go where I wanted him to go... to safety... finally, I left him here at the edge of the grass with the water... he went to the water and then made his way down the side of the road (off the pavement at least)... I returned to the car, sopping wet and laughing to myself... stubborn cuss, hope he made it to safety!
Today, on the way to work, I see another one just laying in the middle of the road... I pull over in front of him (yes, oncoming traffic lane, but protecting him) and get out... at first I am worried that he has been hit... but he hasn't been... he folds himself up and seals himself in his shell... he is cooperative and I put him safely near the edge of the trees and grass...
I am a lot like these turtles... at times I find myself out in the middle of life's road with all sorts of stuff and nonsense racing by... trying not to get creamed by the oncoming traffic, I hunker down in my shell (like that is going to protect me from anything major)... and then... despite myself, someone reaches down... picks me up... shell and all... and takes me from the road and puts me into a place where I can regather my wits and begin the journey anew... that's grace!
So I will continue to watch out for turtles... and foxes... and opossums... and others of God's creatures who are both mesmerized by and fearful of the road they find themselves in... in much the same way that God watches out for me... and when I allow God to do so... I am picked up out of the mess I find myself in and placed where I belong... on God's path... Grace, Turtles and Me...
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