FOODFORTHOUGHT

F O O D F O R T H O U G H T

It was one of the hottest days of the dry season. We had not seen rain
in almost a month. The crops were dying. Cows had stopped giving
milk. The creeks and streams were long gone back into the earth. It
was a dry season that would bankrupt several farmers before it was
through. Every day, my husband and his brothers would go about the
arduous process of trying to get water to the fields. Lately this
process had involved taking a truck to the local water rendering plant
and filling it up with water. But severe rationing had cut everyone
off. If we didn't see some rain soon...we would lose everything. It
was on this day that I learned the true lesson of sharing and witnessed
the only miracle I have seen with my own eyes. I was in the kitchen
making lunch for my husband and his brothers when I saw my six-year old
son, Billy, walking toward the woods. He wasn't walking with the usual
carefree abandon of a youth but with a serious purpose. I could only
see his back. He was obviously walking with a great effort...trying to
be as still as possible. Minutes after he disappeared into the woods,
he came running out again, toward the house. I went back to making
sandwiches; thinking that whatever task he had been doing was
completed. Moments later, however, he was once again walking in that
slow purposeful stride toward the woods.

This activity went on for an hour: walk carefully to the woods, run
back to the house. Finally I couldn't take it any longer and I crept out of
the house and followed him on his journey (being very careful not to be
seen...as he was obviously doing important work and didn't need his
Mommy checking up on him). He was cupping both hands in front of him
as he walked; being very careful not to spill the water he held in
them...maybe two or three tablespoons were held in his tiny hands. I
sneaked close as he went into the woods. Branches and thorns slapped
his little face but he did not try to avoid them. He had a much higher
purpose. As I leaned in to spy on him, I saw the most amazing site.
Several large deer loomed in front of him. Billy walked right up to
them. I almost screamed for him to get away. A huge buck with
elaborate antlers was dangerously close. But the buck did not threaten
him...he didn't even move as Billy knelt down. And I saw a tiny fawn
laying on the ground, obviously suffering from dehydration and heat
exhaustion, lift its head with great effort to lap up the water cupped
in my beautiful boy's hand.

When the water was gone, Billy jumped up to run back to the house and I
hid behind a tree. I followed him back to the house; to a spigot that
we had shut off the water to. Billy opened it all the way up and a
small trickle began to creep out. He knelt there, letting the drip,
drip slowly fill up his makeshift "cup," as the sun beat down on his
little back. And it came clear to me. The trouble he had gotten into
for playing with the hose the week before. The lecture he had received
about the importance of not wasting water. The reason he didn't ask me
to help him.

It took almost twenty minutes for the drops to fill his hands. When he
stood up and began the trek back, I was there in front of him. His
little eyes just filled with tears. "I'm not wasting," was all he
said. As he began his walk, I joined him...with a small pot of water
from the kitchen. I let him tend to the fawn. I stayed away. It was
his job. I stood on the edge of the woods watching the most beautiful
heart I have ever known working so hard to save another life. As the
tears that rolled down my face began to hit the ground, they were
suddenly joined by other drops...and more drops...and more. I looked
up at the sky. It was as if God, himself, was weeping with pride. Some
will probably say that this was all just a huge coincidence. That
miracles don't really exist. That it was bound to rain sometime. And
I can't argue with that...I'm not going to try. All I can say is that
the rain that came that day saved our farm...just like that actions of one
little boy saved another.

PRAYER
"Lord Jesus Christ, you have triumphed over the grave and you have
won new life for us. Give me the eyes of faith to see you in your
glory. Help me to draw near to you and to grow in the knowledge of
your great love and power."

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© 2006 FoodForThought

# posted by F O O D F O R T H O U G H T @ 5:16 AM