Slimy Wonders!

This snail is about 1 cm long

Your first thought when seeing a land snail may be "ewww!" because of its slimy trail. If you are a gardener, you may dislike them because they have a tendency of eating your tender green lettuce leaves or other green leafy vegetables. However, they are remarkable creatures. Snails are mollusks, which comes from the Latin for "soft" (as in having a soft body). They can't hear and have very poor vision. In fact, their "eyes" are mainly used for light perception. However, snails do have a good sense of smell and are sensitive to touch.

   Snails are surprisingly strong. Experiments have shown that some snails can drag vertically up to 10 times their own weight and up to 50 times their weight when dragging something horizontally, like along a smooth table. So, if you weighed 150 lbs, that would be like dragging 1,500 lbs up a tree or 7,500 lbs along a road. That's incredible! They can also comfortably slide over almost anything, including sharp objects, without getting hurt due to their flexible bodies and the slime that they produce. Sadly, strength and protective slime can't save them if they consume either salt or sugar, substances seemingly so little and inoffensive (something to think about there!).

Snails need moisture and when the environment gets too dry for them, they will retreat into their shells, seal themselves to a hard surface, and "sleep" until the rain brings moisture back into their habitat. They can survive this way for several months. Another thing snails need to survive is calcium. Their shells are made of calcium and in order for them to grow and have strong shells, they need to feed on high calcium foods. If they didn't consume enough calcium, their shells would become brittle and crack. This makes me think about our spiritual growth. As the snail needs food high in calcium in order to grow and strengthen its protective shell, so we need Christ, the bread of life, in order for us to grow spiritually and be strengthened to withstand the devil's schemes.