The Singing Scoutmaster: Look At The Turtle

What can we learn about ourselves from the turtle?

First we see he has a shell—his armor, his means of defense. Secondly, we see the turtle's persistence. He's slow, he's plodding, but he always gets where he's going. His persistence is memorialized in the age-old story of the tortoise and the hare. The persistent tortoise outlasted the showy, flashy, and very fast hare. Finally, we see that the turtle can go nowhere unless he first sticks out his neck.

We are like the turtle in that we have many built in ways to protect ourselves—our instinct to survive and to shelter ourselves from danger. Like the turtle, our greatest accomplishments do not come from skill alone, but require our persistence and determination. And like the turtle, often we accomplish nothing until we stick out our necks once in a while and dare to take a little risk.