permaculture

[Terry Haven <terrymoe@amitar.com.au>]

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> >>Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have
> >>entertained angels without knowing it.
> >> (Hebrews 13:2)
> >>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >> THE OLD FISHERMAN
> >>Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of
John
> >>Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the
> >>upstairs rooms to out patients at the clinic.
> >>
> >>One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the
door.
> I
> >>opened it to see a truly awful looking man. "Why, he's hardly taller
than
> >>my eight-year-old," I thought as I stared at the stooped, shrivelled
body.
> >>But the appalling thing was his face -- lopsided from swelling, red and
> >>raw.
> >>
> >>Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, "Good evening. I've come to see
if
> >>you've a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning
from
> >>the eastern shore, and there's no bus till morning." He told me he'd
been
> >>hunting for a room since noon but with no success, no one seemed to
have a
> >>room. "I guess it's my face... I know it looks terrible, but my doctor
> says
> >>with a few more treatments . . ."
> >>
> >>For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me: "I could
sleep
> >>in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the
morning." I
> >>told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch.  I went
inside
> >>and finished getting supper. When we were ready, I asked the old man if
he
> >>would join us. "No thank you. I have plenty." And he held up a brown
paper
> >>bag. When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk
with
> >>him a few minutes. It didn't take long time to see that this old man
had
> an
> >>oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. He told me he fished for a
> >>living to support his daughter, her five children, and her husband, who
> was
> >>hopelessly crippled from a back injury. He didn't tell it by way of
> >>complaint; in fact, every other sentence was preface with a thanks to
God
> >>for a blessing.
> >>
> >>He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was
apparently
> >>a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving him the strength to
keep
> >>going.  At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children's room for him.
When
> >>I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and the
little
> >>man was out on the porch. He refused breakfast, but just before he left
> for
> >>his bus, haltingly, as if asking a great favour, he said, "Could I
please
> >>come back and stay the next time I have a treatment? I won't put you
out a
> >>bit. I can sleep fine in a chair."
> >>
> >> He paused a moment and then added, "Your children made me feel at
home.
> >>Grownups are bothered by my face, but children don't seem to mind."
> >>
> >>I told him he was welcome to come again. And on his next trip he
arrived a
> >>little after seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a big fish and
a
> >>quart of the largest oysters I had ever seen. He said he had shucked
them
> >>that morning before he left so that they'd be nice and fresh I knew his
> bus
> >>left at 4:00 a.m. and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to
do
> >>this for us.
> >>
> >>In the years he came to stay overnight with us there was never a time
that
> >>he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden.
Other
> >>times we received packages in the mail, always by special delivery;
fish
> >>and oysters packed in a box of fresh young spinach or kale, every leaf
> >>carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these,
and
> >>knowing how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious. When I
> >>received these little remembrances, I often thought of a comment our
> >>next-door neighbour made after he left that first morning. "Did you
keep
> >>that awful looking man last night?  I turned him away!  You can lose
> >>roomers by putting up such people!"  Maybe we did lose roomers once or
> >>twice. But oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps their
illnesses
> >>would have been easier to bear. I know our family always will be
grateful
> >>to have known him; from him we learned what it was to  accept the bad
> >>without complaint and the good with gratitude to God.
> >>
> >>Recently I was visiting a friend who has a greenhouse, As she showed me
> her
> >>flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all, a golden
chrysanthemum,
> >>bursting with blooms. But to my great surprise, it was growing in an
old
> >>dented, rusty bucket. I thought to myself, "If this were my plant, I'd
put
> >>it in the loveliest container I had!" My friend changed my mind. "I ran
> >>short of pots," she explained, "and knowing how beautiful this one
would
> >>be, I thought it wouldn't mind starting out in this old pail. It's just
> for
> >>a little while,till I can put it out in  the garden."
> >>
> >>She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I wasimagining
> >>just such a scene in heaven. "Here's an especially beautiful one," God
> >>might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman.
"He
> >>won't mind starting in this small body."
> >>
> >>All this happened long ago -- and now, in God's garden, how tall this
> >>lovely soul must stand.
> >>  Source of article could not be traced  >>
> >>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >>The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the
> outward
> >>appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7b)
> >>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >> *** If this has blessed you, PLEASE PASS IT ON ***
> >>
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> >>"All I have seen teaches me to trust
> >>the Creator for all I have not seen."
> >>- Emerson
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