THE TORTOISE UNDER THE FENCE

THE TORTOISE UNDER THE FENCE

⁷ "For a brief moment I abandoned you,
     but with deep compassion I will bring you back
Isaiah 54:7 (NIV)

            Teddy lay on the tile but he was not at rest.  He was whining a high pitched tone, not the one that tells me he is hurting but rather the one that says there is something distracting him and he cannot rest because of it.  I relented and opened the patio door and Teddy immediately bolted to the far corner of the yard and resumed his barking. I called him but he ignored me.  I walked closer to him and called his name again, but he apparently couldn’t hear me over his own voice as he continued barking and pawing the ground.

            I walked to the corner of the yard where Teddy continued to raise the dust, quite literally over this thing that had captured his attention and would not let him go.  I peered over Teddy’s great head and saw the neighbor’s desert tortoise which seemed oblivious to the upheaval he was causing.  Or then again perhaps he was relishing it.  He blinked his eyes nonchalantly as if to say, “What’s all the fuss?”  He then took a couple of lumbering steps which caused Teddy to bark all the more.  

            “Teddy, come!”   I commanded.

            More barking.

            I took hold of Teddy’s collar and pulled it tight which got his attention and I turned him toward the house.  By the time I got him inside perspiration dripped from my face and frustration bubbled at the surface as I wagged a finger at him and said, “Do you want heat stroke?”  He just stared at me with his large soulful golden retriever eyes and then plopped down with a sigh onto the tile.

            I on the other hand still felt annoyed as I went about my chores muttering under my breath.

            “What are you doing?”  A familiar voice asked.

            I jumped a bit and quickly tried to cover up my irritation.  But He cannot be fooled so I told him about Teddy and the tortoise under the fence. 

            “Lord, he wouldn’t listen to me at all.  I had to go bring him back over and over again.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to wrestle 108 pounds of golden retriever back to where he belongs?”  I finished.

            The words still hung in the air and I knew immediately that the Lord did know exactly what that was like. How many times had the Lord come after me when I was distracted by my own “tortoise under the fence?”  How many times had He called my name and I couldn’t hear His voice over my own?  How many times had I stirred up the dust of fret as some tortoise of worry had hold of me and I refused to let it go?  Again and again the Lord came for me and brought me back to where I belonged.

            “Oh,” was all I could manage at the moment and I suddenly felt very small; the frustration replaced by a contrite heart.

            I lifted His Book off the bedside table and He took my humbled heart to places in His Word where He spoke to me of His view of a stubborn and rebellious heart and how He disciplines us and brings us back to Him again because of His holiness, righteousness and love.

¹¹ "But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. ¹² They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry.  ¹³ "'When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,' says the LORD Almighty.

Zechariah 7:11-13 (NIV)

⁷ "For a brief moment I abandoned you,
     but with deep compassion I will bring you back
Isaiah 54:7 (NIV)

 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

Deuteronomy 8:5 (NIV)

I sat quietly in His shadow and sought shelter there and I asked Him to forgive me for the many times my stubborn heart bolted to the fence of disobedience and focused my attention on whatever “tortoise”  was there capturing my thoughts.  I thanked Him for His discipline and His unrelenting love that pursues me every day of my life and keeps me firmly on His path although more times than I care to admit He must wrestle me there.  Finally, I thanked Him for the everyday things in my life, like Teddy and Gracie, which He uses to teach me important lessons of the heart kind.

As I rose to return to my chores I said, “Lord, turn my gaze away from the ‘tortoise under the fence’ that lurks in each day and keep my eyes firmly fixed on You.  Give me ears that hear Your voice and respond quickly to Your call.”

As I returned to dusting I thought I heard His voice that sounds like many waters thunder through my soul, “I will.”

An Original Conversations at the Well

© Copyright by Diana Morgan August 9, 2012