Wisdom From The Reading List

Last week I was listening to The Bear Grease Podcast which has a series going right now on the Civil War.  Part 1 was very interesting.  The podcast mentioned that Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, a book which exposed the cruelty of slavery to a huge audience, showing the practice was a moral evil.  In fact, when Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe, he remarked, "So this is the little lady that started this great war."

I realized that I had never read Uncle Tom's Cabin.  I promptly reserved it from the library on my audiobook app.  It's a long book - 22 hours long, and tells a weaving story that, to be honest, is a tear-jerker.  It shows the atrocities of humans owning other humans as property, of beatings and splitting up of families.  Looking back, it is difficult to imagine that it ever happened - a stain on our nation.

The book's protagonist was Uncle Tom.  He's a good Christian man - one that we should aspire to be.  He constantly read his Bible and trusted his Lord.  His example of faithfulness to God in the face of terrible abuse is inspiring.  In one example, he finds himself owned by a cruel, heathen owner, Mr. Legree.   Legree is beating Uncle Tom mercilessly and Tom has done no wrong.

Legree says, "You see the Lord ain't going to help you; if he had been, he wouldn't have let me get you! This yer religion is all a mess of lying trumpery, Tom. I know all about it. Ye'd better hold to me; I'm somebody, and can do something!"

  "No, Mas'r," said Tom; "I'll hold on. The Lord may help me, or not help; but I'll hold to him, and believe him to the last!"

What faith!  What a man!  It reminds me of the verses in Daniel 3:17-18 when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are about to be thrown into the fiery furnace, they tell King Nebuchadnezzar that God can save them.  They go on to say the following:

"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

We can certainly learn a lot from the example of Uncle Tom, of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

The second book of the week was, well, I don't know why I did this to myself, but I read Old Yeller, again.  It was another tear jerker.  Spoiler Alert if you've never read it: (Who's never read Old Yeller??!!)  Old Yeller dies at the end.  This audiobook is only 3 hours long.  Old Yeller arrives as an unwelcome guest, stealing meat from the family.  Travis, the protagonist, initially hates the dog, but Old Yeller soon proves himself and is loved by the family.  You can really see the love that grows between the children and their beloved pet, Old Yeller.

Although I can't remember the book mentioning God, it has a strong Christian theme running just beneath the surface.  Old Yeller loves the Coates family and sacrifices his safety, saving the family from a bear, wild hogs and a wolf that has rabies.  Old Yeller eventually gives his life for the family he loves.  You see, Old Yeller loves Travis and Travis, in turn, loves that dog so much.  After Old Yeller is bitten by the rabid wolf, Travis must make a tough decision and put down the dog he loved before he got rabies and put the family at risk.  You can feel his pain and as the book closes; you find yourself mourning right there with him, discouraged, depressed, and melancholy.

But then Travis' dad returns from bringing cattle to market.  He finds Travis dejected, unable to even feel joy for the horse that his dad had brought him back.  The saddle horse was what Travis always wanted and had long dreamed of.  Travis' father uses this moment to encourage Travis, teaching Travis that in life there are sure to be hard times and disappointments.  He uses this opportunity as a teachable moment about life, telling Travis, "A part of the time, it's mighty good. And a man can't afford to waste all the good part, worrying about the bad parts. That makes it all bad."

Between the two books on the list this week, if I was a crier, I would have consumed some Kleenex tissue.  Instead, I gleaned some wisdom: Maintain a strong, unshakable faith in God and focus on all the good things and blessings in our lives.  Don't worry.  Enjoy life.  Make sure you are prepared for eternal life.

All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Creatures Great and Small

In an up-coming post, I'll share some photos of the beauty of late spring around our parts.  Spring is just a wonderful time.  There is anticipation of the garden harvest, flowers abloom, and baby goats frolicking about in the pasture.  Last week I chronicled the momma wren nurturing her little babies in a nest in Tricia's planter.  God's creation and His creatures that inhabit the world are truly something to behold.

As I sat thinking about all God's creatures, I was reminded of this wonderful book that I read 18 years ago:

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.

The author's name is James Herriot, but that's just a pseudonym.  James Alfred Wight is his real name, and he was a real veterinarian in Yorkshire Dales of Northern England.  In "All Creatures Great and Small" he recounts actual stories in his experience as a veterinarian.  The book is beautifully written.  His love for the quirky people, the animals (from goldfish to race horses), and the stunning countryside of Yorkshire comes across in his descriptive writing style.  

Some stories are downright funny.  Others are emotional and hit you right in the feels.  The stories are true, but he's changed the names of all of the people to protect their privacy.  I've got All Creatures Great and Small out on my counter to re-read,  but I've just discovered Herriot's other works.

I checked out "All Things Bright and Beautiful" in audiobook format from the library and have been listening as I'm driving around for work.  So far it's just as good as All Creatures Great and Small.  His descriptions of making farm calls brings to my remembrance emergencies we've had on our farm, like, for instance, when Rosie stood up and stepped on her teat, tearing it with her hoof!  Or, just recently, having a stillborn goat, or milk cows with mastitis, goats with copper deficiency, or cows with parasites.  Every day is a new adventure being a steward of God's Creation.  Sometimes you meet with success and other times you find failure.

I think the author gives us a formula for success:  Have a love for people around you.  Have a love for the animals you encounter.  Have a love for the countryside.  James Herriot's book titles tell you the most important thing: Have a great love for the Lord.  He named four of his books after the verses in the hymn "All things bright and beautiful."  It's a beautiful hymn, praising God for creating such a majestic creation.  The hymn is in our church's hymn book, but we never sing it.  Perhaps we'll learn it and sing it soon.  Click the arrow below to listen:

A Real Gardener is All About Touching

“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there.

It doesn’t matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.” ~ Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

I've always loved to read books.  I tried to pass that love on to my kids by reading to them from a very young age.  We've read stacks and stacks of books together over the years - all sorts of books, from Chronicles of Narnia, Pilgrim's Progress, to most of the classics.  It gives me great joy to see my kids reading.

One of the books we read was "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury.  The book's title is the temperature at which books burn.  This dystopian novel contains an unexpected quote about gardening that I cut and pasted at the top of this post.  Being a Christian, I don't agree with the first part of the quote.  My soul has a place to go when I die - Heaven!  The overall quote resonates with me, though, because it is about leaving a legacy. 

I would think that most people desire to leave the world in better shape than the way we found it.  We aim to change things for the better, to 'leave our mark' by touching things, investing time and energy, and molding them with your hands. Your kids can be your legacy.  Your kids can carry on your family name and the values you've tried to instill can be the torch that still burns after yours has been extinguished.

Bradbury's analogy of a someone who cuts the grass versus the gardener is a good one.  The grass cutter is a hireling, but a gardener is one who has gotten his hands dirty, tilling the soil, hoeing the rows, pulling the weeds.  The gardener, in a labor of love, amends the soil with organic material, minerals, and compost.  He or she feels connected to the soil and working in the garden is almost a spiritual exercise dating back to when God and Adam walked in the coolness of the evening.  The soil you've built and the tree you planted are here long after you are gone.  More than that, though, hopefully a legacy of deep faith taught to our kids will carry on after we're gone. 

Proverbs 13:22 says, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, And the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.”

Although that proverb is talking about material wealth, we know that fortunes can be squandered and be gone tomorrow, but a deep and abiding faith in Almighty God lasts for eternity!