Yertle the Turtle

(With apologies for Dr. Seuss for appropriating his title)

I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.
Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.
(Deuteronomy 30:19 NRSV)

I live adjacent to a creek that attracts a lot of wildlife, including turtles. One morning, I came upon a large turtle crossing the four-lane street next to the creek. It was making its way towards a construction area on the opposite side of the road, heading straight into piles of brick and rubble with not even a puddle of water in sight.

It could not have made its way up the steep, overhanging, rocky embankment so my guess was someone had found it in the river and brought it up onto the grass verge. I will make no comment on the common sense of this person.

The turtle seemed oblivious to the fact that behind it was a stream with clear, babbling water and lush vegetation. It just kept plodding on with great determination and, for a turtle, at quite a speed.

After rescuing it from the road, sliding down the embankment to the water’s edge and placing it back in the stream, I watched it swim off happily and, to my delight, be joined by another turtle further down-stream. Sitting in my car afterwards, stained with turtle pee (yes, it thanked me by peeing on me on the way down the embankment), it occurred to me I had just witnessed a great picture of us before salvation.

We determinedly follow our own path, heading into a desert of dust and rubble, with certain death at the end, ignoring the living water Christ so freely offers us and the green valley of rest He provides.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters (Psalm 23:2-3 NKJV).

Let Him lead you beside still waters and restore your soul. Follow the path that leads to life.