Snapping Turtles

A friend of mine came to the cabin for several days a few weeks ago. A few days before she had come, I had come across four or five snapping turtles in the process of digging their nests to lay eggs. This was right where we parked to fish from shore, so I showed her the nests.  

Snapping Turtle

There was nothing too obvious if I hadn't known ahead of time. Over time, I continued to check these nests.  Eventually I could tell the eggs had hatched; the details in the sand and gravel had changed.  It was all so subtle but very interesting.


This got me to pondering.  Times when we have issues with others, perhaps with relatives, friends or others that become explosive and we scratch our heads wondering what was going on with that other person,have you ever considered that underneath it all,perhaps many years in the past,something occurred that we simply could not see nor understand. In ourselves and others, our past is a treasure-trove of situations that linger in our beings, like snapping turtles' eggs waiting to be hatched. 

If you've ever dealt with real snapping turtles, which I have, you understand their behavior, strength and bite all too well. However, there is also the delicacy of the meat that makes a wonderful stew. How many times do we ask ourselves, "what's underneath it all?" when dealing with frustrating situations?  Yes, we still need to be careful but a bit more insight helps us understand potential areas of concern but at the same time be able to enjoy "delicacies" of the relationship. 


Molly LaFond is a spiritual director with offices in two locations:  Two Rivers and Crivitz, WI.  She can be reached at 920.793.3530 or for more information see: mollylafond.com