A Turtle and the Four of Cups

After meditating in the forest, I was on my way back when I crossed paths with a woman walking her dog. As she approached me, I thought, “I wonder what message this person has for me.”

As she approached, we glanced at each other and said our good mornings. She stopped, looked at me, and asked, “Did you see the turtle up there? I think it’s having babies.” I said, “No, I didn’t. I’ll have to look out for it, thank you!”

Sure enough, further up the path, there was the turtle laying its eggs right along the walking path. My first thought was, when the lawnmower comes by, or someone with a bike, they’re going to run over those eggs. I should do something to protect them. So, I started walking up the path, thinking about coming back with a sign to warn people away from the eggs.

Of course, by the time I got home and was getting breakfast, I felt the drive to take action dwindling. I thought, I’m going to have to get something printed out, put it on a stick, bag it up, and go all the way back to set this up.

I remembered the tarot card I pulled this morning, the Four of Cups. I thought, here’s something beautiful that I can do, and I’m just going to let it slip away? Why? I have time in the day. I have the resources.

I felt the lesson of this card was speaking to me. It was a message to take notice of these fleeting but beautiful opportunities and grasp them instead of letting them slip away. We seem to get fixated on other things that are fixed, that we know are there and familiar.

Too often we seem to pass up the chance to grasp those fleeting, beautiful moments that come our way. We need to leap onto those beautiful moments as they arise.

So this morning, I took hold of the cup offered, made the sign and went back to place it where the eggs had been laid.