`Once,' said the Mock Turtle at last, with a deep sigh, `I was a real Turtle.'

The other day a friend said she'd been thinking about turtles all week and wanted to know if their heads could get stuck inside their shells. She wondered if the neck area could ever get all hard and crusty, making it impossible for the turtle to poke out its head. I knew immediately what she was really asking: "Is this hibernation-funk I've been in ever going to end?" 'I've wondered the same thing. 

We began to compare notes:

• "Have you ever felt so wasted that its impossible to face a sinkfull of dirty dishes?" Yes.
• "Ever looked down at the floor and seen a dead cockroach, waved 'hello' and kept walking? Yep.
• "Have you ever had difficulty remembering what it feels like to not feel like that?"  Uh-huh. 

It's hard to stick your head out when you barely have the energy to lift it up.  B12 shots help, but only if you remember to take them.

What if, rather than beating ourselves up about it, we looked at these times as a normal part of our turtle-journey rather than an interruption?  If our "down time" is a time of rest in God it puts a whole new perspective on what we usually call "hiding." Perhaps we should think of it as "Turtle Time," knowing that when we emerge we will be stronger than before. It helps to be reminded.

My granddaughter spent six glorious weeks with me this summer and I determined that I would be totally present with her, despite the fact that my family was going through a difficult season. No shell time for me! We swam, shopped, went to the coast, the mountains, museums, had tea parties and then sniffed back the tears when she headed back to Texas last Monday.

After a few days of avoiding my sadness with some deep housecleaning, I found myself weepy and unable to face the problems I had put on hold while she was visiting. Then my body responded with a profound weariness, followed by sciatic pain coursing down my leg. For the first time in years, I spent the day in bed - resting, crying and praying. And you know what? With the encouragement of my husband and a dear friend, I found that I was ok with that. "Be gentle with yourself," one friend lovingly advised me, and so I was. I've decided that from now on, I'm going to be more 'pro-active' about resting whether it's physically or spiritually or both.

In Psalm 121 verse 8 we learn that, "The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in, from this time forth and forever." What if we view life as a journey of  continually 'going out and coming in?' And its ok? Head in, head out...God's got our back.

*When the storms of life threaten to drown you, just remember: water runs right off the turtle's shell.