Shade Tree Wisdom 8/10/07

When was the last time you heard a lad whistling as he walked down the street? Probably never, simply because you don’t have a front porch where you sit and watch the world go by, do you?

Philip Gulley, who gives us the Front Porch books, claims that when the Levitt Brothers started building Levittown on Long island and left off the front porches because they wanted to save some money, our troubles began, because we no longer had a place to sit and visit with neighbors and friends after dinner and solve the world’s problems.

OK, that’s a bit of a stretch, but think about it!

Where do we spend time after dinner? Watching the tube with its slanted news and often biased and cockeyed opinions. And our children? They’re being watched by their latest computer games and doing their text messaging away from your supervision.

I remember reading Tom Sawyer. He wanted to play, his aunt wanted her fence white washed, and she set Tom to the task with dire threats. So he started, reluctantly, till he saw a buddy coming down the street whistling, and an idea struck Tom. He started to work, very carefully, touching up a place he had just done, and stepping back to check his work with a critical eye. His friend stopped and said, “Got to word on the fence, eh Tom? Too bad”.

Tom acted surprised to see him and said, "No, this takes real care to get it right.” So the friend, sort of intrigued, said, “Let me try”. Tom started to hand him the brush and then said, “No, I better not. Aunt Polly is real proud of this fence. So the friend begged and said, “I’ll trade you my tiger eye shooter”. So Tom reluctantly allowed him to set to work.

Well, that’s the way it went all afternoon. Tom got rich trades. Aunt Polly’s fence got three coats of white wash and she was properly astonished, and the afternoon was pleasant for all.

It reminded me of other years, sitting on the front porch with uncles and aunts chatting, exchanging views about the products of the various mills that ground their grain, exchanging views about affairs in the township, and getting up to date on the latest news from Madison. Quite often they even debated a point from the morning sermon or discussed other religious issues.

Front porches and whistling, things of the past, aren’t they? Yet to remember such things is good. The Psalmist said:

I remember the days of old,
I meditate on all your works,
And consider that your hands of done”. Psalm 143,5.

That’s good, to remember what God has done.

GPD 8/10/07