ARE YOU THE HARE OR THE TORTOISE?

The Tortoise and the Hare is an old fable. The story concerns a hare that ridicules a slow-moving tortoise and is challenged by him to a race. The hare soon leaves the tortoise behind and, confident of winning, decides to take a nap midway through the course. When he awakes, however, he finds that his competitor, crawling slowly but steadily, has arrived before him. The meaning is morally problematic and the story has been interpreted in a variety of ways over the centuries but I think we can learn something from both these creatures.

My niece Stacey sent me these two pictures she took behind her house. It made me think how both the Turtle and the Rabbit are so different. Just like us we are so different. I wrote about Mary and Martha the other day and their different personalities they are so opposite just like the two creatures God created. One will jump from place to place back and forth never stopping much. The other is persistent as it crawls ever so slowly moving ahead to get to where it’s going. Hum! Reminds me of seeing one lonely little turtle crossing the highway the other day, going so slowly never knowing my car was coming as I tried to dodge that hard shell with legs lopping along. “Whew He made it!”, I said as I looked back to see if he was smashed flat on the road.

Don’t you think we need to be more like the Turtle? But sometimes like the Hare? Both are created for a reason and each do their own thing. Acceptance is the key. Just accept your self just like God made you. I might have a little extra squirt of juice moving from one place to the next. Or you might say, I am one who moves forward slowly step by step. It takes all kinds to make up this world. I am so glad we are different. It would be boring if we were all alike. There’s always room for improvement, working on those things that hold us behind or moving us so fast we might not think things through causing us to make bad choices. Balance is a good thing; we can blend the two and have both to benefit us.

Just a side note: One thing Stacey told me, she likes to sit and watch the Turtles. They act like people rushing to get “their” spot on the log, acting out in Aggression, pushing and shoving. I would think there might be one that gets taken advantage of and doesn’t know how to take up for himself …it’s called Being Assertive…hum… that gives me a seed thought you might look for that to come up soon as I write my thoughts to you….