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The painting we are looking at today is of a turtle named Grace. She was found floating in the Intracoastal Waterway, listless and unable to swim away. Grace was “cold-stunned,” which is a reaction that occurs when sea turtles are exposed to prolonged cold water temperatures. She was lucky enough to strand herself near a dock belonging to a wildlife biologist who saved her life. The artist, Laura Palermo, was inspired by a local sea turtle hospital to paint turtles that have been saved. She donates 10% of her profits to the South Carolina Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Rescue Program.
In the book we are reading for Lent, Learning to Walk in the Dark, Barbara Brown Taylor tells a story about a saved turtle as well. We don’t know the turtle’s name, but she was in peril due to the human tendency to banish darkness by turning on streetlights, porch lights, and yard lights. All our artificial attempts to avoid darkness have an unintended consequence on nature and things that rely on natural light, such as turtles.
Turtles lay their eggs on shore and then instinctively look for the brightest horizon to lead them back to sea. Distant lights of the mainland often cause confusion and the turtles are at risk of mistaking these lights for the moon and end up going in the wrong direction. Taylor and her husband found a large loggerhead turtle who had done just that. After much rigamarole that involved the turtle being overturned, chained, and dragged to the sea, they were able to save her. Taylor says, “Watching her swim slowly away after her nightmare ride through the dunes, I noted that it is sometimes hard to tell whether you are being killed or saved by the hands that turn your life upside down.” Ain’t that the truth?
Perhaps you are cold-stunned and floating listless. Perhaps you have been fooled into following the world’s artificial light instead of the real One. Perhaps you have been turned upside down and drug through the dunes. Wherever you find yourself, may you feel the grace of God keeping you afloat and offering a hand of rescue. And may you be that hand of rescue for someone struggling to find their way.
Peace,
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