My flower boat doesn’t float She sits aground in my yard, Watered by a cellar pump, Submerged in the pond On a concrete step, Set there years before by me. The pump, wrapped in window screen And tucked inside one half Of an overturned mackerel trap, Filters out fish, frogs, pondweed, pollywogs, Silt and a slimy growth To keep them from clogging up my Watering wand, always trouble. A skiff, for that is what she was, When she motored Underfoot of a lobsterman, (he now long buried,) And she un-bottomed in her old age, But sound enough for a raised garden bed Fifteen feet long, six in the beam, Two feet high, And filled to the gunnels with soil; She is sited to enchant, And is a charming Flourish of summer blossom color from Stem to stern, a joy, an eye delight; Except for her flaw -- what I see, Caused by the Boat’s bench (called a thwart) that lies hidden and Buried beneath an inch of soil, Making a six-foot wide and one-foot long dead strip Where not a flower grows From gunnel to gunnel in my Otherwise pretty garden boat. “That thwart thwarts my flowers. I’ll rip it out,” I said and nearly did, until “Leave ’er alone. That thwart binds your boat. No thwart, no boat, no boat, no garden. Like it or not, you must have one to have the other.” Let’s Pray: Dear God, we pray that on balance, our troubles may be few and our blessings many. Amen. A thought: Can’t have one without the other. Sources: Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 A Time for Everything 1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. 9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil -- this is the gift of God. The Book of Job “Into each life some rain must fall.” ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Visit us at dailydevotions.org Follow us on Twitter @DailyDevotions3 Join Our Community on Facebook!
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 11:15:00 +0000
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