Friday morning, as I neared the end of the first mile of my daily walk, I noticed a raccoon curled up beside the road. Seeing no signs of decay, I assumed it had just been hit and killed by a car, until it began to very slowly straighten its head from the curled up position. How I wished I had some means to put it out of its misery, instead of just leaving it there to suffer a slow, painful death. But there was nothing I could do, so I continued on my way, grieving for the suffering of the poor animal, and praying that God would be merciful and let it die quickly.
Shortly after I reached the end point of my walk and had started back, I saw a tiny turtle, no more than 2 inches across, traveling along in the road. I knew that if I put him at the side of the road, he would probably return to the road and be killed, so I decided to take him home and put him in my garden, where he would be safe. As I carried him along, I began to remember other small creatures I had removed from danger in recent weeks – a snake, a small brown frog, a tiny, young field mouse who thought he was safe so long as he didn’t move, until I nudged him with my foot – and I felt that God was comforting me over the raccoon.
Once the turtle realized that he was in no danger, and decided that it was time to resume his journey, it was quite a job to keep him from walking off the edge of my hands. I was so intent on my little friend that I almost forgot to look for the coon, to see whether he was dead yet. But I remembered as I turned the corner, and began watching for him. But he wasn’t there! In fact, he was nowhere to be seen. He had recovered and gone away. Maybe he’ll live after all! I was so glad I hadn’t been able to kill him.
God never meant for any of his creatures to suffer or die. I look forward to the time when God destroys the last enemy, death, not just for us humans, but for all of his creatures on this earth.
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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.
