A Wild Turkey Stuck in My Garden (aka The Turkey Who Forgot He Had Wings)!

It’s story time and tonight I am telling you the tale of the turkey who forgot he had wings.  I’m feeling a bit like Beatrix Potter as I say that (writing a tale about an animal in my garden).  Maybe this will become a children’s book of mine.  Who knows?! At any rate, it was funny and inspiring and very, very odd.  And you know, everything has a story.  Maybe you will be inspired to see things a different way in your own life and spin a yarn or two :D. So on we go then!

Image Credit: Len Blumin

Earlier this afternoon I heard my pug puppy barking outside and I couldn’t figure out why.  He is not one to carry on about things unless there is something to carry on ABOUT.  When I called him to come in, he was crouched in the corner of the yard doing this low bark that was supposed to make him sound like a big, vicious dog.  Of course he couldn’t sound vicious if he tried.  It is quite funny actually.  I opened the sliding glass doors to the garden room and said, “Toast! What do you see?!” I saw nothing.  Eventually I got little Toast (who by the way is my black pug puppy) to come in , and went about my business.

My brother came over for lunch and as I was in the kitchen making it, he exclaimed, ” There’s a turkey in your yard!!!!!!”.  “What?!” , says I.  In disbelief I ran to the living room to look out the picture windows.  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  A large wild turkey running around chaotically in my garden.  In town!!  “How did he get in here?  Where did he come from?  and Oh my word.  “, were my thoughts.  And then we had great fun watching a wild turkey up close and trying to catch him on film.

I’ve never seen a turkey run so fast, but then again, I can’t say as I’ve ever really seen a turkey run period.  The turkey was running around so fast because he was in a panic.  He somehow got in here, but he couldn’t remember how, and he couldn’t find a way to get out.  You see, our yard and garden is completely fenced in (high fences too, to keep the deer out!).  And you know what I thought to myself?  I could relate to that turkey.

My husband’s had the flu and I have been really overwhelmed (and lacking sleep again) with taking care of everything house & home.  I was working on a dozen chores or projects and have felt completely chaotic inside trying to get it all done on my low amount of sleep.  Ironically, I had just said to a friend that I felt like a chicken running around with my head cut off.  And then God sent me a turkey.

I watched the turkey run all over the yard in a manic frenzy.  Starting at one end of the garden, he ran full speed across to the other end and smack dab into the fence.  If it wasn’t enough to ram himself into that end, he came up to the gate closest to the house (where I was standing inside at the window) and rammed himself into that as well.  A few times he hopped up on the lower rung of the red picket fence and tried to run through it.  But there is a chain link fence behind that, so it didn’t work.  It was such an odd, humorous sight! Here was the manic chaos I had been feeling inside all day displayed right in front of me in the form of a flailing turkey.  My mood was lightened.

* Random turkey fact 1: Turkey’s can run up to 25 miles an hour.  Who knew?!  No wonder he looked so fast to me. 

Random turkey fact 2: Turkeys are a symbol of abundance

And even though my brother and I were chuckling a bit at such a strange sight, of course I felt bad for the turkey and wanted to help him.  My husband put padlocks on all of the garden entries and I didn’t know where the key was.  So I texted Matt at work and waited for a reply.  In the meantime I tried to go outside to get a photo, but then ran in when the turkey started coming my way.  I had visions of being chased around my garden by a turkey, and that would make for an even MORE unusual sight!  He was too fast to catch on camera!  I managed to get one picture of him, but he was camouflaged by our bushes:

Can you spot the wild turkey? I managed to catch one shot of his side profile as he ran past, but he is camouflaged by our trees. His tail isn’t fanned.

And as I was standing by the window trying to get a better picture, that turkey rammed into the garden gate one last time and suddenly remembered he had wings! He took off flying over our garden fence, finally free.  It was in that moment that I realized the real inspiration in this story.  The turkey had forgotten he had wings.

He wasted all of this time running around the garden in a panic, ramming into fences, trying to squeeze through fences, and having no success at getting out of his situation.  He went on this way for at least a half hour and who knows how long he was doing this before I saw him.  Once the turkey remembered he had wings to help him, freedom was his.  There was truly nothing to fear, but in the panic of the moment he could not see that.

How many times do I go around in this same chaotic manner forgetting that I too have “wings” (at least in the metaphorical sense).  So many things on the to do list.  Worries.  Fear.  Sometimes exhaustion.  Barriers (whether perceived or real).  Road blocks.  Just like the turkey bumping in to the same darn walls over and over again.  Forgetting that there is an easier way and it doesn’t have to be this difficult.  Forgetting that there is help available when he needed it.  Help in the form of wings to lift him up and over life’s hurdles.

I too have wings.  I have everything I really need in life right here within me.  I have tools, resources, people to ask for help, a loving God on my side.  Yet sometimes I forget this and run around like a trapped turkey, until I am exhausted from trying to do it all on my own without my wings.

Can you relate? Do you over-complicate things when life could be more simple? Are you quick to panic when you feel “stuck”?  Let us remember that we can call on the help and resources we need at any time.  We never lose our wings.  They are always there waiting to support us.  If only we can remember them…. ♥ 

Keep Living Inspired, Rebekah

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