Shade Tree Wisdom 2/8/10

Cold this morning, and when facing the wind, nippy. So I did not face the wind very much during the walk.

Sometimes, when time allowed, I would stop and visit some of those family cemeteries scattered around the county. One could read the history that lay there. One struck me. A family was buried there. There had been seven children, three boys, and four girls. All had been married except the last one, a girl, who also died last. On her tombstone were the dates etched, and then this:

Don’t mourn for me now,
Don’t mourn for me ever,
I’m going to do NOTHIN
Forever and ever.

You can see the story. The youngest daughter, the one who did the dishes after a meal, cooked the meal, fed the chickens, canned the vegetables, swept the floors did the washing, weeded the garden, and never a word of thanks. Just taken for granted. So the verse.

Recently a friend sent an item by email titled, “The Invisible Woman”. Who says she didn’t seem to matter much, people ignored her, took her for granted, till a friend gave her a book with pictures of cathedrals. The book detailed how it took centuries for some of these to be built, and pointed out to her that everyone fit in. The stone mason who toiled on the walls, as well as the craftsman who came years later to design and place the stained glass windows, as well as the workmen who put the roof tiles in place.

And that reminded me of the time our youngest daughter graduated from Concordia, St. Paul, as a teacher, and I was honored to be invited to be their commencement speaker. I used St. Paul’s experience as my text. “But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.” Acts 9,25. And the title was “Somebody Made A Good Rope”. I pictured the grimy waterfront loft where the rope-maker worked, and how he came before sunup to start the days’ toil. How he carefully choose the best materials, and twisted them carefully, as he had been taught, so the final product was sought by customers who knew they could count on the rope not breaking.

That was the graduates' lot. They would teach, some in city schools others in small more isolated situations, but all that the Lord required of them to “make a good rope”. That is, do their best where they were. That God will bless.

And that brings me to Sunday’s sermon on Luke 5, 1-11, and Peter’s response. “BUT at Thy Word I will let down the net”. It did not seem reasonable, because “we fished all night and caught nothing”. But “At THY word”. And that is the response of the believer always. What the Lord sets before us often does not make sense to our limited vision, but always, “At THY Word”. Brings His rich blessing.

The direction of the Christian life is one of obedience, of doing what He sets out before us, in carrying on as His children, often regardless. So, make a good rope, work where you have been planted, do what lies at hand to do, simply because God sets it there for you.

GPD 2/8/10