Update: Guess who was in our driveway this morning?

 

Percival!

In our post on Thursday, I wrote about our turtle, Percival, and how he had been missing for three weeks.  You can read about that in this post.

On Thursday afternoon, I was working on our next children's book in the "Ellie & Percival Series" and drawing Percival.  It made me so sad to be working on him, not knowing if we would ever see him again.  I told Glen I thought this would be the last of the books with Percival. (Because without him, how would I have anything to write?) I tried to pray for whoever would encounter Percival that he would be a blessing to them as well.

This morning, Glen, Ellie, and I had stepped out for a walk, and Percival was in our driveway!  Glen went into the house to get him some breakfast while Ellie and I stayed outside with him. As I spoke to him, he walked closer to us.  

We stood there watching him eat chicken and cantaloupe for several minutes, and thanking the Lord for leading him back to us.  Glen shared with me that he had prayed the previous day that the Lord would guide Percival back to us.  I had prayed for Percival's provision and protection, but I hadn't prayed he would return, even though I wanted that very much.  The Lord graciously answered both our prayers, even the one I didn't pray.

Then we headed off for a short walk.  When we returned, we didn't see him, but Ellie's keen nose found him under our car.  (This is such a frequent place for him that I kneel to look under the car before we leave to make sure he isn't there.)

We were leaving for our grandchildren's birthday party, so Glen brought Percival a special "dessert", fresh watermelon!  He was also hoping it would occupy Percival while we were backing out of the driveway.

I can't express my relief at seeing him again (automobiles are the number one killer of box turtles), my gratitude that Glen prayed for his return, and my joy that the Lord had graciously answered Glen's prayers.

This whole experience with Percival reinforces in my heart and mind just how very much our Lord loves to answer our prayers. He loves to "give good things to them that ask Him."

So let us take every opportunity to take our request to our Heavenly Father, who delights in mercy and loves to shower His children with blessings "above all we can ask or think."

"Delight thyself also in the Lord; 

and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart."

Psalm 37:4

Our Best Days

For at least twenty years,  I have been wearing monovision contacts. (This means my left eye sees far away and my right eye sees up close.)  Apparently I have the brain type that quickly adapts to that type of vision correction and I have been very happy with it.

In October, though, my eye doctor  told me that we had reached the end of being able to refract my closeup eyesight with  monovision contacts.  This was news I knew was coming eventually, but did not want to hear it when it came. Even since that visit, I have noticed my close-up vision being less than it was.  This gives me two options, one is glasses, the other possibly multifocal contacts.

I have never liked wearing glasses.  I miss my peripheral vision and I don't like the feeling of something on my face.  The other option could possibly be multifocal contacts.  I have tried them twice and each time preferred monovision.

Pondering this situation, I began to think about vision.  Not strictly regarding eyesight, but to our awareness around us.

When we are born, the "lens" of our awareness is very small.  In fact, we are told that in the first few days a newborn doesn't even realize the mother is a separate entity.  

As we grow and learn, the lens of our awareness begins to grow.  As children we learn about our families, our homes, the area where we live.  As we grow and have more experiences, we begin to learn about our town, perhaps our state.  Even older and we begin to learn about our country and our world. Different places, people and things show up in the lens of our awareness.  Then we become aware of things outside of our earthly existence.  We learn of rockets into space, other galaxies and even other universes.  These discoveries are often illuminating, exciting and lead to even more discoveries.

Then at some point in our lives, the lens of our awareness begins to diminish.  Just as the lens of my eyes no longer can focus without visual aids, we begin to think less and less of the things beyond our world.  The more we age, the smaller our lens of awareness becomes. Limitations, from multiple sources, keep us from exploring the things beyond our realm. 

This would all be extremely depressing, if it weren't for the Lord.  

Because we believe and trust in the Lord, we know this physical life is not all there is.  The greatest, the best of our existence is ahead of us. Once we pass from this mortal life to life eternal, we will be so shocked at how wide the lens of our awareness will be forever! 

Mostly, we will see how much more we are aware of the Lord, in us, by us, through us and all around us.  This is true now, but as the Scriptures says, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face" (1 Corinthians 13:12).  

But then, oh, what glories we will see!  What wonders we will behold! Things we can't imagine now will be before us! Delightful beauties and glories will abound! We can "hand our hat" on this verse"

"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." 

1 Corinthians 2:9

Our very best days are ahead!

Friday Photos

 

Percival and the Lord

 For those of you who are familiar with our 

Ellie First Finds Percival

"Ellie & Percival Series" children's books, you know who Percival is.  If not, Percival is a box turtle Ellie discovered on our property about two years ago.  We have fed him almost daily since that time.  Percival is so used to us that one day we opened the back door and he was waiting there for us!

A very interesting thing happened to us this morning regarding Percival.  We had not seen him for 24 days (yes, I keep up with things like that). I suspected, since it has been  so hot lately, he was probably in the nearby creek cooling off.  Still, every morning when I walked Ellie, I would carry chicken for him, and sometimes cantaloupe, too. (He loves cantaloupe!)

This morning something unusual happened. 

Usually in the mornings, Ellie waits until we are ready to take her out, but this morning, she let us know she needed to go outside.  Glen and I were both up and getting ready for the day at that time and since his process is quicker than mine, he called for her to come so he could take her out.  Usually she trots along at his call, but this time she didn't move. She stayed at the bathroom door watching me.  He called again. She still didn't move. By this time, I was also ready and began to take her out myself. (This is important to the story because when I walk with Ellie in the mornings we go a different way than when Glen walks her.)

On the way out,  I grabbed some chicken in case we saw Percival, as was my habit, and we were out the door.  Usually, we go in the backyard first, to hunt for Percival, and Ellie always pulls to go that way, but not this morning.  She was on a scent and down the driveway we went. 

We turned onto the sidewalk and crossed onto the main street in our neighborhood.  Ellie did her "business" and as I was picking it up, I saw Percival in the middle of  the street about three houses down.

Now you might wonder how I knew right away it was him and not another turtle.  Well, for one thing, I have fed him almost everyday (except during his brumation) for at least two years.  Also, I have drawn him many times for the "Ellie & Percival" books. But mainly I knew it was him because he has a long neck and extends it fully when walking.  This gives him a very distinctive profile.

Ellie and I scooted toward him, first because he was crossing the street and I wanted to protect him if a car came by.   

Secondly,  and this may surprise you, turtles can move remarkably fast. By the time we reached him he was in the gutter.  

Ellie was so excited to see Percival, I could hardly hold on to the leash to keep her from rushing him.  As he reached the gutter, he clearly recognized us. I tossed some chicken to him, which he quickly gobbled up. I was curious as to what he would do next. I totally expected, and hoped, he would follow us home.

He walked from the gutter, over the grass to the sidewalk.  I backed up a bit and was ready to have him follow us when he turned and began going in the other direction!  

I would be lying if I said this didn't hurt my feelings.  Every morning, EVERY morning, we have looked for this turtle!  Every morning I carried chicken in my pocket for him! 

I knew I shouldn't pick him and carry him home, and even if I wanted to, I couldn't have done it.  Ellie would have probably knocked me down in her exuberance to be near Percival. But she didn't want to leave him either, and resisted me on the leash the whole way home.

Once I got over my hurt feelings I had to admit a couple things to myself:

1. It is still hot and I believe Percival was heading to the creek to cool off. I think that is also where he goes to brumate.

2. The presence of feral cats next door (2 cats and now 3 kittens) and the occasional opossum (whom we have seen on our bird feeder camera) may have discouraged him from staying at his usual place nearby behind our kayaks.

3. The most important of all. How wonderful for the Lord to lead us to be exactly at the place we could see Percival, precisely at the moment he was crossing the street!  If Glen had taken Ellie out, we wouldn't have seen him.  If Ellie had gone in the  backyard first as she always does (looking for Percival), we wouldn't have seen him.  The Lord arranged our morning so we were in the perfect place at the perfect time.

Why? So we could be reassured that Percival was alive and well.  So Ellie could get a glimpse of the friend she diligently searches or every single morning.

If there were not already millions upon millions of other things proving to me that the Lord loves us and is concerned with every detail of our lives - no matter how small- this would surely prove it.

So, this story may be about Percival, and even about me and Glen and Ellie, but it is really about the Lord's great love and involvement in our lives.

"Thou openest hine hand, 

and satisfieth the desire of every living thing." 

Psalm 145:16