L.I.F.T.- Ladies in Faith Together

Turtle Talk by Marilyn Meberg

I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about turtles but I find myself drawn to them for reasons that sometimes elude me. Maybe they inspire compassion. They are such odd little pigeon-toed creatures lugging a far-too-large house-shell about in an effort to get from one place to another. I can’t imagine the patience they must have simply to navigate their dreary and seemingly limited world. I think I’d probably just hole up in my shell and think “It’s not worth the effort. What’s the reward for finally reaching my destination?”

My house is on a little man-made lake; one of my special pleasures is keeping tabs on the 30 or 40 pond turtles which line up on the bank sunning their shells. The slightest unfamiliar sound will cause them all to race pell-mell down the bank and fling themselves into the water. (Not an easy feat for the severely pigeon-toed.) Within minutes, somehow a safety signal is communicated and they all haul themselves out of the water positioning their shells once again in the Texas sunshine. This little drama always pleases me; I don’t know why. Maybe because it’s predictable and has a happy ending; a kind of “all’s well that ends well” observation.

My appreciation for turtles, however, rose to a new and unexpected high when I was meandering around the Internet in search of an award-winning recipe for macaroni and cheese which I was told I’d find on the Web page of a notable chef. I adore macaroni and cheese, so I was determined to thread my way through the incomprehensible vagaries of my computer in search of this recipe.

Well, guess what? I never found the chef’s Web page but instead stumbled onto a little film about a child psychologist who trained a turtle to do dog tricks!! The film showed the turtle responding to verbal commands. The trainer would say “shake” and immediately the pigeon-toed little turtle arm would be extended for a “hand shake”. That trick was followed by “roll over,” “sit,” and “run in a circle.” Is that not unbelievable?? I was utterly enthralled.

The trainer is a child psychologist who uses the turtle as an encouragement to his young clients who suffer from pathological shyness. They see the turtle come out of her shell and perform tricks. The children are inspired to do what they are afraid to do: trust their environment and accomplish tasks beyond their own expectations.

I don’t have a clue how to tell you where to find this charming piece because I don’t know how I found it in the first place. But here is what I can tell you. The pigeon-toed turtle is not to be underestimated. God has placed within that odd little creature capabilities beyond all expectation. And if God has done that with a turtle, He certainly has done that with you and me.

So let’s lumber out into the world with renewed purpose and positive expectation. Let’s grab that familiar Philippians 4:4 verse and claim it for ourselves. “I can do all things through Christ…” We can because He enables us!!