ON A SITTING FENCE a little goodly word Another trip to the farm. It was a good and typical day. Gramps would stop for cheeseburgers with grilled onions -before golden arches stopped grandsons from sitting next to grandpas on vinyl covered stools in a roadside diner. On our return, he and I would every-time stop at Roosterville, a country market on a pitch and gravel road with a gas pump in front, a crop duster in back and the coldest Strawberry Nehi inside, with a cork liner in a cap that needed a tool to remove, but gave me a nickel back on our next farm-time ride. Twelve years old was a very good day. My job was to open every pasture gate and latch it after Gramps drove through. It took me a minute to do the deed, plus another ten for him to softly talk me off the gate, swinging like a kid on a county fair ride - which is about all the time anyone should sit on a fence, since there’s always something better to do that ought to get done, but won’t if the end of the day finds you swinging from side-to-side, unless someone like Gramps makes you get off. There’s a lot of fence in Missouri. And there’s plenty of room to perch like a bird on a place that has your imprint on it, sitting as much as you might. One thing’s for sure about my grandfather: he allowed me fence time until he got tired of waiting, at which time I could watch him drive off in a cloud full of dust or take my place on the seat beside him, with my left foot on the gas and his on the brake, driving through the pasture together. There comes a time in every boy’s life when he has to make a decision - no matter how old he might be. It will always be a left or right, up or down, back or forth and often gutsy moment, but making no decision is always less good than better, especially if your grandfather decides the fence you’ve been sitting on needs painting. And there’s a lot of fence in Missouri. God says a lot about sitting still. It’s when we often get an ear full of what our ears ought to be full of. But he also tells us to get busy with what He tells us to be busy about with Him by our side, and not let the sun go down on our day until our day is done - since one thing’s for sure ... God will get the job done whether our foot is on the gas or not, and being there and doing that is a far better than painting a fence, unless that’s what He calls us to do. Therefore ... “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” Ecclesiastes 9:10
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 04:22:19 +0000