Broken Tails

I finished kayaking and after putting my boat back in the car, went to the upper porch of the marina building. It overlooks the river, and has a line-up of white rocking chairs under a shade-providing eave. The lovely breeze floated across the porch, and as I rocked, I felt that heaven could not be much more glorious than this. So I rocked in the rocker, peacefully watching the river. I was texting with two women who had chosen not to abort their babies through the work of Cities4life sidewalk counselors who have remained in touch with me as their pregnancy progresses. At that moment, a green anole lizard skittered across the porch floor.

I love anole lizards. We had one for years as a pet till he quietly and unobtrusively died and we found his skeleton one day. (we only had to feed him a handful of crickets once every two weeks and by that time, after years of owning him, my daughter didn't peek in on him often...still, it was sad to see the skeleton, particularly since we weren't the ones that initially discovered it. A friend of my daughter's pointed it out saying, "Uh, I think your lizard is dead." There were still crickets hopping about so he had not died of starvation, in case you were having bad feelings about us.)

Anyway, this porch-skittering anole was interesting in that he had only half a tail. Clearly, the back half of his tail was gone. The prevailing opinion regarding anoles with lost tails is that when they fight other anoles, the victor bites off the loser's tail, and eats it.

Ick.

This is not problematic for the loser, because his tail will regenerate. All he loses permanently is his pride. In the case of humans, this would be a good thing. I don't know about how strongly that particular character defect ranks in anoles.

But I thought about the anole, advertising the fact inescapably that he lost a battle, as evidenced by the obvious loss of his tail. Most of us hide the wounds of our battle with life. Most of us hide it so well that the great majority of people we interact with don't even know we are wounded. They just think we are odd, or angry, or controlling, or shy. They don't see that we only have half a tail. I remember reading a Facebook post that I find very true: Treat others kindly. You don't know their story or what hidden struggles they endure.

Smile at those around you. Be gentle. Think of the anole with half a tail.
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Matthew 11:28-30 

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Lamentations 3:22 

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;

Romans 8:1 

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 

Psalm 34:17-20

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.