Ever watched a turtle perform ballet?

I hadn’t either. But one day on a date at Calusa Nature Center & Planetarium with my husband, we happened upon these turtles that appeared to be stretched out in arabesques. We laughed to see these reptiles pretend to dance on their log. Or, at the barre, if you will.

I’m sure they didn’t know what it looked like to us. Certainly, they were simply enjoying the sunny day, but it appeared purposeful. At least in theory.

It made me think of what positions we take that appear to be something they’re not.

I’ll let that sink in for a minute.

Lately, I’ve been stunned and saddened by the stance of many who claim to know and love God, profess to be followers of Jesus, but adopt positions that flagrantly oppose what the Bible says. Mean spirited posts from ones who are to extend the love of Jesus. Demands for rights that do anything but consider others in humility. Embracing patterns of the world with lifestyle, choices, and outright destructive behavior.

I have to look at myself too. I’m not finger pointing.

We’re reading Get Your Life Back by John Eldredge and today’s chapter on Self Life and what it means to truly surrender my life to Jesus convicted me. How can I show love if I’m quick to react to something my spouse says instead of calmly conversing? If I write a retort to that post that offended me? When I’m impatient because I’m not getting something I need or want when I want it?

I suppose we could pretend to be like the turtles and say we don’t really know what we’re doing.

But we aren’t. We know what we’re doing.

It may seem like a silly comparison, but if the arabesque fits…

By the way, have you taken time to enjoy nature lately? Here are some other scenes we enjoyed that day. What did you learn from your time in the wild?