Feeding the Tortoises

Greetings Dear Reader,

One of the things I get to do whilst Christmas is away is care for her three tortoises.  This is a very easy task as they require very little.  Fresh water, some salad and fruit, and the occasional sand scooping are all that needs doing.  One would think that the task could not get complicated.

Yesterday, however, God in his infinite sense of humor chose to complicate matters.  I went into the art room where the three tortoises live in their little tortoise mansion that I call tortoiseville.  I had fresh spring greens and some overripe strawberries for their repast.  My plan was simple: refill their water, put the food in the dish, and scoot downstairs for a shower before heading out to teach my class.

The problem occurred because as I did my head count one of the three was missing.  Torrey, the largest was there.  Squirt the youngest was sitting on the warming pad.  Baxter, the first to arrive at our home was nowhere to be found.  There is no escape from tortoiseville.   The critters would have to engineer something beyond their intelligence to accomplish this.  So I began to move things around (using up valuable shower time) in search of Baxter.

He was in the far left corner of tortoiseville burrowed under the large water dish.  I have no idea how he got there but when I extracted him and set him down by the fresh food he darted (if you can call any tortoise movement darting) right back to the corner and began to hide again.  I let him be.

When I came home last night all the food was consumed and Baxter was still under the water dish.  He had obviously moved as he was facing the opposite direction from when I left.  There were also telltale bits of strawberry in his jaw evidencing that he had eaten.  So again I let him be.

I wonder how often God provides something good for me and I instead run and hide under the sand until I am ready to accept it?

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."