Articles
Sometimes I Feel Like the Snail
Sometimes I Feel Like the Snail
Cory Waddell
I started out down the familiar path like always. The morning was crisp and beautiful, and I was really looking forward to this run. About a quarter mile into it, my eye randomly trained on a relatable sight. A snail was working its way across the concrete path. It was stretched out to full length, and the shell on its back was enormous, at least by comparison. I stepped right over the top of that notoriously slow creature, but the image stayed with me for most of my own journey.
As my feet pounded the pavement, I wondered what that snail’s existence must be like. He literally carries the weight of his world on his back. No matter how hard he tries, every journey is taken at…well…a snail’s pace. Consequently, every destination for that snail seems impossibly far away, even the opposite side of a seven-foot-wide concrete path. I wondered to myself, “He is expending so much energy to get somewhere. Does he even know where he is going or what he is looking for?”
Sometimes I feel like that snail trying to cross a simple path. I am stretched out as far as I can, trudging across this running path of life. The weight of the world is bearing down on my back – my responsibilities, deadlines, expectations, mistakes, personal dreams, to-do lists, and on it goes. The more effort I exert, the less progress I seem to be making, while everyone around me seems to be making great strides in their journey. I know that I am trying to get somewhere, though I cannot be for sure where. Sound familiar?
Yet, when I feel like the snail, I also find solace in the promises of my infinitely bigger God.
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28, 30
Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. Psalm 55:22
He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Psalm 23:2-3
Even to your old age I am He, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save. Isaiah 46:4
This week if you feel like the snail, keep your head up. With a God like ours, things will look up soon. Stay the course and trust in Him.
