The Turtle Boy
“Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;” Eph. 5:20
Once upon a time there was a little boy with a big heart who fell into a predicament beyond his sweet little heart’s control whereby he did not receive the tender loving care and nurture he deserved and landed smack dab into the hands of a lady’s life who was in quite the predicament of her own whereby she would have given almost anything to be in a different place and circumstances than she most assuredly was given she herself was not receiving the tender loving care and nurture she deserved where she currently was to say the very least. The last thing she could have imagined being given on top of everything she was already facing was the responsibility of a little boy. She didn’t need any more responsibility than she already had, she murmured and moaned. To top it off, she had spent so much of her life avoiding caring for kids. She had her loves, most especially the Lord, and most certainly her dogs, and her friends and even strangers given her heart to give, but kids had never been her cup of tea, so to speak. Yet circumstances were such there she was anyway, neglected in her situation, taking on the care of the boy neglected in his. But neither of them neglected by God who had in His wisdom brought them together.
This once upon a time story wasn’t just any story. It was, and is, a true story as I can attest since I heard it from the mouth of the lady at hand. Wouldn’t you know, one day the lady as her own personal fiery trial of being hurt and neglected raged on, was walking through the woods with the boy who had by this time fallen madly in love with Jesus and gushed often at the mouth about Him. But this day he was not gushing about Jesus. He was distracted by a surprise find, a most special find, a turtle of all things! Home with the lady and the little Jesus-loving boy went the turtle delightedly content to receive the tender loving care of the little boy.
What the lady couldn’t see from the inside of her story is what I saw from the outside of their story – that God sent her a little turtle boy to draw her out of herself into the joy, innocence and wide-eyed delight of a little boy in love with God and His Creation. A little turtle boy God was using to teach her to see His Creation through the eyes of a child, through the heart of an innocent boy facing his own trials but still able to enjoy God’s blessings. Even turtles. The little turtle boy who seemed to her at first to be a burden turned out in the hands of the Lord to be a blessing. A reminder that life and its trials are temporal but the love and joy of the Lord are forever.
We all have our turtle boys, I believe. What we consider burdens but if we will open our hearts will see are God’s blessings and reminder He invites us through Christ to be with Him in His tender loving care forever!