Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Friday and Sabbath, January 24 and 25, 2025
I’m going to go out on a limb here and confess that I have never had a friendly feeling for confining living things in a permanent enclosure, at least those who were born to be free. Birds in cages cause an instant revulsion of pity within me. And I deliberately don’t go into pet shops where I might see ownerless dogs staring mournfully at me through cage bars.
Not long ago I was in a room with the aquarium you see in the photo above. There were no fish there, that I could tell, though I can’t be sure. (Fish seem to take their captivity with a serene, philosophical detachment.)
But I did see this turtle. It was by no means possessed by piscine calm. Exactly the opposite: it was in constant motion, its legs clawing at the rocks, its nose pressed against the far pane of glass. To my horror, I saw what it was trying to get to. Some well-meaning aquarium-keeper had placed a photo or painting of another underwater scene just behind the rear glass wall, and—unless I am missing something—the turtle was flailing away at the rocks, trying to get enough traction to go there. This wasn’t a momentary attempt, followed by its attention turning elsewhere. This turtle kept at it, desperately wanting out, wanting away.
Have you ever felt like that turtle—trapped in a situation you don’t enjoy, longing to get away to freedom? Life is complicated, as you know, and solutions most often aren’t easy to find. But I found a link with several Bible verses which might help. (When you’ve looked over the texts, make sure you also click the additional links at the end.) And pray to the Inspirer of those verses, that He will give you patience as you wait for release.