A story from Vol IV, available via Amazon or Barnes & Noble:
GROUNDED
I once made the following statement,
when I was older, that my parents
never said to their five kids: “you’re grounded”
for discipline or to be corrected.
My oldest brother said, “What do you mean?”
(although not in rhyme -
when he recalled fun times)
“We were grounded every single time we
worked the hard ground by”
(this is not a lie):
hauling stones,
shucking corn,
pulling weeds,
podding peas,
snapping beans,
pinched bugs mean,
dug parsnips,
swatted gnats,
dug potatoes,
canned tomatoes,
picked strawberries
and elderberries,
as well as blackberries
and red raspberries,
hauled water from the pond,
mowed green grass in the lawn,
worked in the garden late
to put food on our plates…
We also milked cows
after feeding them chow,
gathered eggs
which hens laid,
fed the rabbits,
ate the rabbits,
as well as chickens,
turkeys and ducks – yum,
made baled hay
on sunny days,
fed ducks on the pond,
usually popcorn,
chopped wood,
stacked wood,
cracked black walnuts to eat
by the woodstove's heat,
fished from the pond
that ducks floated on,
sledded down the hill
hoping not to spill,
made memories,
now telling stories...
Of course, we now know,
as I’m certain you know,
this was my parents way,
for hard work does well pay,
to teach us responsibility -
to the best of their ability.
The chores mentioned above are minor compared to my parent’s upbringing
being born at the time of the Great Depression
into families of dairy farmers depending on horse-drawn power
and everything daily accomplished by sweat of brow and muscle power.
* * * * *
We may have thought we were grounded
in the ground
but my parents also grounded
us around
taking us to church every time the doors were open
where we learned that on the Lord we can always depend.
What is it that we've learned to daily depend on:
- God's faithfulness, through His protection and provision.
- God's mercy and grace new every morning.
- God's love often seen through His blessings.
- God's direction refining us
as we grow our faith and trust.
May you, too, realize God is with you and for you,
and seeks a relationship with you to perfect you
into His likeness becoming
daily through faith believing.
May today be the day
you believe. Don't delay.
I pray that out of his glorious riches
he may strengthen you with power
through his Spirit in your inner being,
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
may have power, together with all the saints,
to grasp how wide and long and high and deep
is the love of Christ,
and to know this love that surpasses knowledge –
that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:16-19
Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,
continue to live in him,
rooted and built up in him,
strengthened in the faith as you were taught,
and overflowing with thankfulness.
Colossians 2:6-7
This I call to mind and therefore I have hope,
because of the Lord's great love,
we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:21-23
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