Posted 8/25/2008 10:05 AM (GMT 0)
Despite the constant rain from Fay, the misguided tropical storm, my wife was determined to be outside Sunday and asked me to bend some hangers for the pots in her small greenhouse . It was cool for a change with the rain pouring on the roof. I bent the hangers and as she tended her orchids I noticed a small snail shell between two bolt heads on the corner post. Curious, I tried to remove it, but it was wedged so tightly it was all I could to to free it without breaking its fragile shell. Now, just how does a snail get into such a bind. Surely it was not going so fast that it jammed it's shell between the bolts. Why then did it perish is such a way ? Try as I may, I could not recall ever seeing a snail back up. Upon running into an undesirable situation a snail recoils into its shell and then changes course, left or right . But this snail had not run head long into a bad situation, it had made a very bad choice in course . On close examination I could see where the width of its track had widened after its shell had jammed. Try as it may, it could not change course . I felt sorry for the tiny mullusk but I drew a parallel with it and our dealing with crohns. Sometimes when we get into a bind we just forge ahead with all our might. We try this way and that way to get free but do we ever consider backing up? A few steps back would give us a better view of the problem. A few steps back and we would not be so much in the middle ,that we could not see another path. A few steps back could make the difference we need to be on our way to better life. Perhaps the tiny snail did not die in vain.