If I had to choose....

If I had to choose one animal that best describes me....I'd pick a turtle. Why?

1) I'm soft and gooey on the inside too. I NEED that hard shell to protect me.

2) I don't do anything slow like a turtle supposedly does....my mind is always going 1,000 miles an hour, but I do wish that I could slow down and enjoy the scenery. You know, like a turtle does.

3) Turtles (some anyway) live like....forever. I'm planning on living forever too. Maybe not in this body here on earth but forever in heaven none the less.

4) See the silly grin on the turtle above? I grin like that most days too.

I FEEL like a turtle lately....mostly because of #1.

For the last 6 months or so I have been living outside my shell....trying not to rely on it so much. Putting myself out there.....stretching my emotions (sharing them), stepping out on the edge and making myself transparent and vulnerable.

But yesterday and today? I've put my shell back on. Fear of the unknown and anticipation of things not always being easy and fun and all that. Mark said that I "want my cake but don't want to bake it." He's right. I want the good stuff but don't want the heat that it takes to get there. But then again....who does?!?!

I'll admit.....my shell is not nearly as hard as it used to be. Not even close.

But a shell is a shell is a shell.

So....I'm a turtle. A turtle who needs to RELAX, slow down and live OUTSIDE my shell. I need to let God be the only shell that protects my soft and gooey insides.

"For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle and set me high upon a rock." ~ Psalm 27:5