The way the story should have ended

I began my sermon Sunday with the story of a turtle crossing a river. I left its conclusion hanging. Here’s how it should have ended.

There once was a turtle who wanted to cross a river in the woods where he lived. He had friends on both sides of the river. Most of them could come and go as they please, but he couldn’t. The river’s current was far too strong. If he even put a foot in it, he’d be pulled into the river and carried miles downstream before anyone would know what had happened.

The turtle wanted to cross the river so badly that he came up with an ingenious plan to pull it off once and for all. If he could find a strong enough branch and two eagles who would agree to help him, he’d be on the other side of the river in no time at all.

The idea was simple. The turtle would bite the branch, which would have to be thick, while the eagles also put the branch in their mouths and then fly him across the river.

Two eagles agreed to help the turtle achieve his goal. When all three of them had clamped down on the branch, the eagles began to fly. Things were going very well and it looked like the turtle’s plan would work.

That is, until the turtle heard what the other animals were saying as they watched. All of the animals – on both sides of the river – were praising the eagles for the brilliant plan they had hatched!

When the turtle simply couldn’t take it anymore, he yelled, “It was my idea!” and then promptly fell into the strong current of the river.

It just goes to show that pride goes before a fall.

(I left off that last sentence. Including it “closes the circuit” so to speak.)

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