My encounter with brother turtle "A Fine Rain"

I met a turtle while meditating.

We met in the rain, on a hard stone surface, surrounded by dirt and and plants. It was cold and uncomfortable and hard and I hated it.
We were in a multileveled kind of terrain. Like a very thick forest with mounds of dirt and growth and big roots, so lots of water was in motion and trickling.

It was the kind of chilly wet night not suited for travel, 'best to wait while Earth takes her drink, the mud is dangerous and he was in no rush.'

I was curled up and naked on the stone, feeling very very cold, and shivering.

I wanted help and I desperately wanted to know which way to go. Where? I thought.

'It is ok. We are safe here and the storm will pass.' I thought. Or did I? Then I wondered why mud was dangerous and who wasn't in a rush? The turtle stood directly in front of my face in the rain. My head on the stone. Its head barely peaking out of its shell. I could see its eyes.

'The walk has been long'

He was so old, but small, He looks just like any other 6-8 inch long turtle.

'Behind me there was much shrubbery and debris. The walk was long. So much to live. But always it changed and kept me amused. Sometimes in order to walk I must stop. I am in no hurry. I have most of what I need. The rest is Provided.'

"At least you have your shell." These words I spoke out-loud. So selfish, so envious. How rude of me I think back now LOL.

He Popped his head out and bonked me on the forehead.

'What do you call this?'

We sat looking at each other for a time. Me thinking about my shell. He peaking out of his at me. I wondered how I could help myself. I wondered how I could help others. What to do next, what to do? Who to ask? I thought about asking the turtle. Wasn't he here for me?

'My back was very itchy'

"Huh?" I Thought

'The rest was Provided. I have been walking in the sun a long time and my back had become itchy. Although the mud is dangerous the rain is good for me as well as Mother Earth. I can wait. Besides, look how much better off I am now.'

I turned my head on the stone to face away from the turtle. A great flood of water and mud was flooding past us, just passed the edges of the stone surface. But already I could see how it was drying up at some higher spots, and how the caked on mud was drying in a smooth uniform carpet across the forested floor. I realized at this point I was also in his way. I turned back to him

"I am in your way."

'We wait together. I am in no rush. However I should point out that even without you in my way I might still have a hard time of it.'

Confused I turned back to the smooth brown path through the forest. Right at the edge of the stone surface we were resting on was a stream of fast moving water cut by the fast flowing waters still pouring in from the higher elevations. The road lay just two feet past this rushing canal that was seemingly very deep as well.

The sun was out in our part of the forest and I sat up. I looked at my old friend and smiled. I stood up and gently picked him up and took a big stride across the raging canal. And set him back down facing me with the Canal and Stone surface on one side of us and the sun lit forest path with the nice smooth layer of sediment a couple of feet wide running a lazy course through the trees on our other side.

He smiled

'Sometimes you are Provided with a solution that you must set in motion yourself.'

He Chuckled to himself. I'm pretty sure I was the one set in motion. He's a riot.
He did not start down the path but turned a quarter turn towards the canal.

'I would not have made it past that canal without you. It is a very fine canal. The water full of life flowing to where it must be Provided to others.
And this is a very fine path. It is full of seeds and grubs for me to eat as I walk and very soothing on my old feet. It too will be absorbed into the forest and bring it life. And I enjoyed that stone. It was a very fine stone. Surely we would not have survived all of that Providing otherwise.'

He laughed out loud. Again with the humor

'And you are a very fine man. Had you not stopped in your sadness before me, you would have never seen me waiting in the dark. You may have stumbled head long into the mud. It was a very fine sadness. But like the stone behind us you need not concern yourself over it now. If you need another sadness I am sure it will be provided at the appropriate time.'
(Another chuckle)

'The road behind was much harder than this fine mud path that has been Provided. What a fortunate day. It may have been cold and uncomfortable for a bit but had the rain not come and washed away all the death and debris the path would still be blocked and much harder to traverse. It is a very good thing we waited. I was in no rush and it was a fine rain.'

This he said as he was turning down the path before him scooping up a rich looking piece of vegetation and munching on it happily as he walked.

'Delicious. And my back feels much better now. Such a fine rain'

And I was back home.
That was my meeting with Brother Turtle. I did not remember most of the details until I was already typing but I am so glad they came back to me so vividly so that I could share.

Looking back on some of the things he said I notice he points out he was only thinking that his back was itchy and not that the path was too difficult or insurmountable on his own. He was just quietly and patiently annoyed by a little thing and was then "Provided" as he puts it with not only relief from his annoyance but with more than he had ever asked for.

I consider him my Spirit guide and know that he is an integral part of my own Spirit.

Good Journey my Friends

Zian