Dear Children,
Gramma and I have been very busy working in the garden, but I really must take time to write this letter to tell you about the wild mother duck and her seven ducklings. They were hatched out in the marsh behind our house, not far from where a snapping turtle lives who thought he just might catch one or two of those ducklings for a tasty dinner!
The other morning Gramma and I had just finished weeding the garden. It was warm, and we decided to take a rest from our work. We sat in the kitchen, looking out over the pond to see if there were any wild ducks or geese out there. Well now, what we saw did not make us very happy. Just twenty feet from the edge of the pond sat a very large snapping turtle!
Now snapping turtles can be dangerous. They have strong, sharp-edged jaws that are good for capturing food. They cruise along under the surface of the water and catch any unsuspecting or careless frogs, fish or even ducklings! They catch a duckling by its leg and drag it underwater until it drowns. Then it becomes supper.
Doesn’t this remind us of our enemy, Satan? He is very clever at laying traps for anyone who is not wise to his ways. You know, the Bible says that it is a sin to lie, it is a sin to steal, and it is a sin to use bad language. One of Satan’s favorite traps is to whisper into the ears of boys and girls something like this: “It’s okay ... go ahead and do it ... no one can see you ... no one will ever know anything about it.” But the Word of God says in Proverbs 15:3,3The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. (Proverbs 15:3) “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” Oh boys and girls, don’t let Satan lead you into this trap of thinking that God cannot see what you do or hear what you say. Satan is a real danger to you, like that snapping turtle cruising around the pond.
Just then Gramma and I saw something else that was rather distressing. Along came Mother Duck leading her seven baby ducklings right to the pond! Uh-oh! We could just imagine what the snapping turtle was thinking: Here comes my dinner right to me!
Straight to the bank waddled Mother Duck, leading her seven babies. When she reached the top of the bank, she stopped dead in her tracks! She had spotted her deadly enemy, Mr. Snapping Turtle! She didn’t move, and somehow she must have told her babies not to come any farther, because they stayed right behind her.
Gramma was getting a little worried about those baby ducklings and said to me, “Should we go chase that snapping turtle out of there?”
“No,” I said, “I don’t think we should. We would be scaring the ducks and the turtle at the same time. Let’s wait and see how Mother Duck handles this problem.”
Gramma and I were very surprised at what happened next. Mr. Turtle very slowly crawled over to the west side of the pond and slid down the bank into the water. Hiding just under the surface, he swam out from that side of the pond and waited for Mother Duck and her family to swim by. He was completely out of the ducks’ sight.
But Mother Duck was wise! She was watching the turtle all the while. She stayed where she was for ten minutes, and then she turned to the other side of the pond from where the turtle was and walked along the shore. She waddled down the bank and into the water, swam out a little, and then turned and waited for her babies to catch up. They followed her in ... one, two, three, four, five, six ... uh-oh, where is number seven? Had the turtle already gotten one?
No, Mr. Turtle was on the other side of the pond, still hiding underwater, just waiting for them to swim by. But Mother Duck knew he was over there, so she and the six ducklings were waiting for number seven. Finally, here he came! But why did he take so long? We don’t know. He may have found a water spider or some other kind of bug to play with and did not realize the danger he was in. Gramma and I were very glad that Mother Duck did not swim away and leave number seven behind.
Now then, some of you children are asking, “How did Mother Duck and the ducklings get past Mr. Snapping Turtle?”
She stayed very close to the east side of the pond, as far away from him as possible. Then at the entrance of the pond, she wiggled through a narrow passage in the tall reeds and then out into the creek, with the seven ducklings right behind her.
Hooray! Mother Duck and the ducklings made it! And Mr. Snapping Turtle was left behind, still hungry.
Needless to say, Gramma and I were very happy for wise Mother Duck and her family that were now safely out in the creek where that snapping turtle could not catch them. But, boys and girls, Satan is just like that vicious snapping turtle, trying to catch anyone he can and stop them from getting into heaven! He would rather have you with himself in that terrible lake of fire! Oh, do not listen to his lies! Be wise and come to the Lord Jesus who loves you and died for you so that you can live with Him in the safety of heaven.
Have you ever memorized John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)? “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever [that means you and me] believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life [in heaven].” It’s such a wonderful verse that I hope you will memorize it if you don’t already know it.
Lots of love,
Gramma and Grampa