Are You a Rabbit or a Turtle…?

Are you a rabbit or a turtle in the mornings? I usually feel like a turtle but think I have to act like a rabbit. About 40 years ago, a preacher friend named Ron taught me how to hike in the mountains with a heavy pack. Ron was a very large man and not very tall. I was a a 20-year-old college student about to lead my first group of high school students backpacking in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. With a 50-lb. pack on his back, Ron demonstrated how he always began his hikes with tiny… very tiny, slow steps. As he instructed me, he would wave his arm up the trail to indicate the tall, muscular, young high school football quarterback who once hiked with him and charged out of the camp and up the mountain. Ron chuckled to himself as he remembered how he—much older, short, and stout—slowly but surely came alongside that high school athlete who had collapsed on a fallen log, gasping for breath.

“Always start like a turtle,” Ron taught. “The rabbits don’t last very long.”

I remembered Ron this morning because I SO felt like a turtle. And I remembered this also: “Those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength; the will rise up with wings Ike eagles; they will run and not be weary, they will walk and not faint.” (-Isaiah 40)

Today, remember not to charge out of the starting gate. If you have already charged, pause and breathe and remember to step into the flow of Grace. Don’t force. Don’t push. Pick up speed gradually. Pay attention and wait. Trust the Spirit of God to provide the strength you need.

Walking with you, Vicki