Thu, Oct 12th - 8:39PM

Grace in the Valley of Contentment

Chapter Six:  Commitment

If any [man] come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Lk. 14:26

            That first week of break was probably more exciting and fun for Grace and the other children than all the ones that would follow that summer.  Even though Nathan and Sarah were just a few years older than Grace, and therefore the responsibilities of life were being handed to them at a greater measure, summer was still a fun time for them too.  Nathan, having just turned fourteen, was just a year or so from completing his schooling and beginning now to work with David at the trades of carpentry and painting.  As in the previous two summers he would also accompany David on his sheep-tending up in the mountains.  He greatly looked forward to this for a number of reasons:  to spend that time more closely with his father; to have special time out in the setting of nature with all of its beauty; and also to begin to cultivate, like David the habit of communing alone with the Shepherd.  David also looked forward to the time he would spend with Nathan from a father’s point of view.  Their communication up in the mountains would remain unbroken for all of the time they spent there together, from the first day till the very last.  Thoughts that he had and wanted to convey to Nathan about life and work and values and beliefs and many such things were able to be shared very freely and without interruption, as was also was the case back at the house.  The two enjoyed fishing together, as all young boys and their fathers love to do, and this was their time for that.  So, much of Nathan’s time during that first week of summer was spent in preparation for that venture. 

            Now David loved all of his children equally, and considered this time together with Nathan to be of special importance for his training in manhood.  But he desired greatly to share himself with the girls in ways that would express the love he had for them, as well.  So that Saturday evening at dinner, he asked all of the family if they would like to go on a family picnic together the following day after worship.  Well, he might as well have asked a bear cub if he’d like a large tin of honey or baby colt if she’d like another drink of her mama’s milk.  Of course they would!  That settled, the girls gathered around David, or rather upon him, one on either knee, and Abigail hugged his neck and kissed him on the cheek.  Nathan, sensing that the “women-folk” needed this time with their husband and father, asked if he could be excused from the picnic and spend the day with a friend after church.  This was granted and preparations were immediately begun for the next day’s outing.

The next day at the worship, Grace sat in the chair next to David, which she usually didn’t do, and just leaned her little head on him as much as she could.    After worship, they embarked, all except Nathan that is, on their afternoon excursion together.  The afternoon was warm and breezy, and after they had eaten their lunch, they fished some and hiked up to a little mossy spot overlooking a part of the valley and just sat there a while, David with arms around each girl and Abigail next to them.  He wanted to tell the girls about his mission down to the city, but the time just wasn’t right yet for a number of reasons.  First, Nathan wasn’t present and he needed to be there when the rest of the family heard the news.  But more than that, it was pre-mature in telling because David hadn’t even spoken with an elder yet, nor gotten full confirmation from the Shepherd concerning the journey.  But Grace seemed to cling to her father in a kind of a fearful way, as if somehow she knew about the separation that would soon take place, even before summer’s end.  She didn’t actually know about it, of course, but sometimes little girls that are very close to their fathers are able to sense these things, or so it seems, anyway.

After sitting in that pleasant spot for a long time, and having observed the creatures around them, a rabbit, some noisy, as usual chip-monks, and a mother deer and her spotted fawn some distance away,  David broke the silence.  “Why did the Shepherd make all this so beautiful, as it is,” he asked.  Sarah immediately blurted out what would be the school book answer.  “Because he wanted to exhibit his glory and the glory of his Father in Heaven,” she replied.  David waited a moment to see if Grace had anything to reply to the question.  “I think the Shepherd wanted us to see all the many ways that he is so beautiful himself,” said Grace a minute or two later.  Her answer surprised her father because it was as though the child had given serious thought to that very matter long before the question had ever been asked by him.  “You are both correct, girls.  You really said the same thing in just a little different way,” he said.  Abigail then joined in the discussion.  “The Shepherd is truly a very glorious and beautiful being, and he felt the need to express his glory so that we would appreciate it and worship him for it,” she added.

            “Daddy, what does glory mean?”  asked Grace, spontaneously.  “Well, little one, let me try to answer that with an illustration,” he replied.  “Do you remember the time that we all walked up to near the top of that mountain together a couple of summers ago?  It had snowed the night before, but the snow melted enough for us to walk up to a high, rocky saddle in the afternoon, and from there up the jagged rocks to a place near the summit.”  “Yes, I do remember that.  You could see the snow on all the mountain peaks for miles in every direction.  The sky was clear and the sun so bright.”  “Grace, do you remember saying that we must be very near to heaven up here?”  “Yeah.” she said, excitedly.  “Well, that was kind of a glorious experience for us all, on a truly glorious day,” he said.  “But there is another kind of glory, that is even more glorious,” he added.  David went on.  “It’s when someone does something wrong to us and we are able to forgive and keep on loving that person.  That’s the way the Shepherd responded when they hated him and hung him on the cross to die for no good reason.  That’s the glory of his love.  Its hard to understand, but no one can deny that it is truly glorious.”  Tears welled up in his eyes as he spoke, the girls looking intently at him and pondering what he had just said to them.

            In a minute they were up and on their way down the trail to the automobile.  Abigail walked hand in hand with Sarah and David with little Grace.  On the way down Grace queried her father:  “You wouldn’t ever leave us, would you, daddy, for a long time?”  she suddenly asked.  David was surprised again by his little daughter’s words, this time in the form of a question, and unsure immediately how to answer.  “Only if the Shepherd asked me to do so, would I ever leave you and all the family,” was his reply.  “I hope he doesn’t ask you to leave us, ever,” she said firmly.  David squeezed her hand all the more tightly as they continued on their way down the hill.  The sun had begun to sink in the sky as they drove home, blessed at the close of a rich and pleasant day together.

Tue, Oct 3rd - 9:53PM

Grace in the Valley of Contentment

Chapter Five:  THE CALL

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here [am] I; send me.   Isa. 6:8

Summer came to the valley of Contentment like a ship returning home from a far away land of riches.  Because it had been a cold and snowy winter and a very rainy and wet spring, everyone knew that summer would be lush and green, as much like a tropical paradise as the people there could image.  They were not at all disappointed.  The brooks and streams swelled early as the snow began to melt, and they stayed high and swift well into the season.  The trees leafed and the wildflowers popped up in the sunshine strong and tall like little soldiers going to war against the gloom of the winter season.  Little Grace, captured by the energy of all that was taking place around her in nature, and filled with the joy that the Shepherd had planted in her young heart came alive in the midst of it all.  As the time of the school season neared to its end, she and her friends made plans for all of the many things they would do (or thought they would do) before school commenced again in the fall.  Sometimes fantasies of things we intend to do are more fun than when they actually come to happen.  This wasn’t so with Grace and her dreams of summer break.  Somehow she was able to enjoy even the duller moments of life, or so it seemed to her family and friends, and everyone knew that her summer would be a new, and exciting adventure for her.

 When the last day of school for the season did come, and the children were finally dismissed from class, they all ran out the back door of the school house faster than a rabbit running from a fox, as Grace would say it.  But Grace just sat in her desk chair gazing out the window past the grassy fields toward the mountains still very much covered with snow.  Her lips were turned up with just a little smile and her eyes alight with a subdued excitement as she contemplated the beauty of that wonderful moment.  Susanna, who had gotten several yards away from the schoolhouse and had turned looking for Grace, came running back into the building.  She saw Grace sitting there and immediately began tugging on her arm.  “Grace, Grace let’s go!  The other girls shall be down by the cottonwood grove before us and we’ll miss them,” she blurted out, almost out of breath.  Miss Wisdom, their teacher stood silently at her usual place at the front of the classroom enjoying this little drama and wondering what dreamy thoughts were holding Grace at that moment.  “O.K.” said Grace seriously and still in her trance, “but first I need to thank Miss Wisdom for all of her care for us this past school season.” 

Grace then proceeded to do just that.  She arose, and followed by Susanna, walked over to Miss Wisdom.  “I just want to thank you, Miss Wisdom for all the work you put into teaching all of us this past year.  I know it wasn’t always easy and we weren’t always very cooperative.”  She then gave a slight curtsy. Susanna followed suit with her expression of gratitude, which was equally as sincere, even though it was not her original intention to do so.  Miss Wisdom and the two girls stood there looking at each other for a long moment.  The silence was finally broken when Miss Wisdom took hold of them both, embraced them and thanked them for their thanks.  The girls ran out the door to their awaiting summer, of which they were sure to enjoy every minute.

That evening the excitement of the day was still very much alive as Grace and her two siblings, Nathan and Sarah chattered like chip monks at a feast of acorns, about all the fun that the coming summer held for them.  David and Abigail sat eating their meal, trying to act as if it were just another evening of another day.  When the children had gobbled down their food and excused themselves almost unanimously, the two parents lingered at the table quietly.  They chuckled somewhat under their breath, lest perhaps the children were still within hearing.  After a moment of pleasant silence, David’s countenance changed to a serious frame, and he stood abruptly, walked over to the window and stared out across the early evening landscape.  Abigail could detect a deep look of perplexity and anguish in his eyes that she had only seen in him a very few times before.  She then arose, likewise and followed her husband to the window, leaning on him strongly and resting her head on his shoulder.  “What is it, Dear?  What’s bothering you so?”  Even though she asked out loud, she knew the answer to her query before uttering the words.  David fixed his gaze strait ahead as Abigail, looking up at him continued.  “The Shepherd has been speaking to you since that Lord’s Day several weeks ago when you went up on the mountaintop alone.  Hasn’t He?”  He turned his head and gazed silently into her eyes with a look on his countenance that seemed to express more than many words could say.  His eyes were intense with the zeal the Shepherd had given him for the mission He had called him to undertake, and yet there was a sad compassion in them for Abigail and the sacrifice he knew she would be asked to make in his pursuit of that mission.  After a long pause, he finally answered.  “Yes, my love, He has indeed been speaking to me.”  Suddenly a fear shot through Abigail’s body and she clutched David’s arm in almost a panic.  He smiled to alleviate her fear and put his hand upon hers.  “I must leave on a mission for a while. But don’t fret, my precious one, I’ll return!”  Tears welled up in both of their eyes as they gazed intently at each other.  Abigail felt faint and David, sensing her sudden weakness supported her over to the sofa in the next room.  As they sat there together, she lay her head on his chest and clung to him as she never had before.  “Where are you going and how long will you be gone?  Can’t the children and I go along with you?”  David wasn’t quite sure himself about the answers to these questions, so he freed himself from her grasp and knelt in front of her, taking both of her hands in his.  With steady, yet trembling words he tried to relate what the Shepherd had asked him to do.

“I’ve got to go and face my past back in the city where I came from.  But there’s more than that that I must do,” he said to her in a serious, sure voice.  “The people down there need to hear about the Shepherd and His love for them.  Many of them think they know Him, but they really don’t.  I’ve got to go and tell them of His redeeming love so that they will truly heed His call to repent and have faith in Him.

The Shepherd’s sheep are scattered in so many places and bound in their sins by the Prince of Darkness.  Somebody needs to go and find them and tell them the good news that the Shepherd has made provision to set them free.”

  “Have you spoken with the elders about this?  Do they know?”  she asked, hardly able to subdue the anxiety welling up in her fearful heart.  “Not yet,” he said.  “But I intend to do that soon.”   But you know how the rulers of this world and many of its people hate the Shepherd and resent any efforts to spread his message in their midst.  The dangers you will face down there will be so terrible, she continued.   “All the more reason to go,” he replied.  How will they hear and believe unless someone goes to them and tells them?”  In perplexity she fell back on his shoulder, sobbing.  He gently took her head in his hands and kissed her.  “But...” she desperately grasped for words to reply to his firm resolve to go, but could find none.  In her heart she knew that life for them all would never be the same from this moment onward.  “Never fear, my love,” he whispered gently.  “The Shepherd knows what’s best for us and the path that we need to take to His eternal kingdom.”

  In a moment Grace came running into the living room still buzzing with excitement.  Her parents’ somberness startled her, so they immediately took hold of her and smilingly reassured her that all was well.  Grace then ran off to Sarah’s room and Abigail sat on the couch fearful of the future, but, nevertheless reassured by the strength and conviction of David’s words.  David then kindled a fire in the fireplace, for the evenings were still somewhat cool this time of year up in the valley of Contentment.  Not another word was said about the matter for the rest of the evening as David and Abigail sat in front of the fire while the children continued their chattering like those excited little chip monks tend to do.