pieces and ponderings

This morning I aided my husband in rescuing a turtle.  The turtle, a big guy over 12 inches long, was caught in the volleyball net in our front yard, which had blown down during a storm.  Bryan noticed the turtle as he was driving down our driveway.  He called out to me that I would need to help a turtle and then thankfully decided to see to the task himself.  I’m glad he did.

I watched at a distance as my husband bent over the turtle and worked to loosen the net from the turtle’s legs.  What I didn’t realize was that it wasn’t only the turtle’s legs that were caught…the net was also twisted around the turtle’s neck.

Bryan asked me to fetch a pair of scissors.  When I reached Bryan and the struggling turtle, I was surprised by what I saw.  The turtle had foam gathered around his gaping mouth and from the turtle came deep gasping noises…the net was choking him.

Bryan Darling was calmly and carefully untwisting net strings and talking to the turtle.  Without help from the scissors there would have been no way to free the turtle from the snare.

The turtle was gasping for life-giving air and Bryan was working with the scissors.  I was gripped by the scene before me.  This big man bending over a foaming and struggling animal…fighting for life.   The compassion that I saw was overwhelming…this compassion also welled up within me.  We had to save the turtle…it was a life…it mattered.

Finally, Bryan was able to work around the turtle’s legs and head, that would try to disappear into the turtle’s shell, and cut him free from the net.  We carried him to some water so he could drink.  I tried to rinse the foam away from his mouth.  As soon as my husband placed him back on the ground the turtle was off…moving quickly toward the direction of his turtle hole.

The whole scene has stuck with me as I’ve tried to go about the day…the struggle for life and the compassion of a man.  I thought of a verse in the Psalms, actually two verses.  Psalm 103:13-14 says, “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.”

This turtle was not near as important as a child to my husband or to me…still the compassion we felt was so strong…the desire to help overwhelming.  If we can feel so strongly about a creature…how much more must the Heavenly Father, our Creator, feel compassion toward His children when they find themselves ensnared…struggling…gasping for air and desiring life.