Tiny Turtle

We woke up this morning to rain and thunder, lightning. It was a nice rain and lasted until shortly after noon. By 3:30 it had cleared off enough that I could take Maggie on our daily afternoon walk. I decided I wasn't up to walking as fast as I usually do, so I just took her over next to the nearby golf course, where there are a lot of trees and good things to sniff at (from her point of view!)

As we were on our way back, I happened to be looking down on the ground and spotted what I thought first was an unusual stone, or a nut shell. Upon closer examination, I saw that it was a tiny turtle about the size of a quarter! I picked it up which it didn't like, and it crawled off my hand and fell. My first thought was to take it home. But really, why? I don't have children at home, I don't teach any more, and it would probably end up dead. I decided it was better to keep it right where I found it. But the thought of how near I was to stepping on it, crushing it with my foot, completely unaware of its fragile life, gave me pause. How many creatures do we kill each day, just by our mere walking? I feel like I was given a tiny gift from God, by being privileged to catch the tiny creature even for a moment. :-)