First of all, did you know that when you pick up a turtle going one way (north, for example) and turn it around so that it is going the opposite direction, the turtle will just pull itself inside its shell, turn around, and go the way it was originally going?
So many times, human beings allow circumstances or other people
to dictate which direction we will go next. We get off track, go off
course. We allow fear to hold us back, or force us to change our plans
and take a safer course. One of the hallmarks of a person who is
awakened, spiritually, is the strength to carry on, in spite of our fears, and
the ability to persevere despite difficulties that would bring others to their
knees or immobilize them altogether. If we were more like turtles, we would
be able to take life in stride more often. Sure, we might move along
slowly and cautiously – turtles do that. But we would get to our
destination in the end, and that’s what counts, isn’t it? The most important thing in life is to run your race** and get to the destination God has set before you. Don't be like Terah who started off to the land of Canaan but stopped in Haran.*** Be like Abraham who kept going as led by God, despite the re-directions, made it.
Next, in order for
turtles to move ahead, they must stick their neck out of their shell.
For us, the expression “sticking one’s neck out” has come to be
synonymous with taking a risk, or venturing to offer an opinion that others may
not agree with, or express something that others are afraid to say out
loud. Very often, the only way for us to move forward in life is to take
a risk, to step out on faith. Sometimes we need to lean on other people’s faith…
But we have to do our part, and that’s the preparation and then…jump, take the
risk. When we do this, we set all kinds of synchronicities in motion that
are very real, albeit hard to explain. We just have to stick our necks
out at least once in every lifetime… that’s the only way you can move forward and even upward. Keep moving...in the right direction - yes following the Lord.
…although the turtle moves
slowly, it ultimately gets to its destination. In other words, “slow and
steady wins the race.”
Sometimes we let our impatience get the best of us, and we end
up doing things – or failing to do things – in our haste. Sometimes we
just needlessly and thoughtlessly step on other people’s toes in our hurry to
get to our destination or achieve our goals. Haste may not always make
waste, but it doesn't always get you that much ahead. You can
probably give me at least two ways that haste has actually done some real harm
in your own life.
The best (& easiest) way to have the best of your life is to accept who you are and be the best you you can possibly be. You are you for a reason; being someone else will be a disservice to the whole world. Learn one more thing from the turtle and be comfortable and confident about who you are - and boast only in the Lord.
Source:
Four Things About
Life That We Can Learn from Turtles by Linda LeBoutillier http://mettahu.wordpress.com/2013/12/10/four-things-about-life-that-we-can-learn-from-turtles/*http://sapphire-and-beryl.blogspot.ca/2013/07/timeless-turtle-tips.html
** Heb 12: 1 - Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, (Amplified)
** Gen 11:31 - 32 - Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, who was the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, Abram's wife, and with them he left the city of Ur in Babylonia to go to the land of Canaan. They went as far as Haran and settled there. Terah died there at the age of 205.(GNT)
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