Sunday, February 6, 2011

Of cabbages and kings...

One day a horse wandered into our suburban neighborhood. I was 15 years-old and even now, I remember our next door neighbor coming over to "borrow" our phone. She called her husband who was at his insurance office and I listened to her side of the conversation which went like this:
    "Bob!  There is a horse in our yard!"
    "What do you mean: what does he look like????"
    Then with mounting exasperation:  "No!  He isn't purple with pink polka-dots! He's brown!"
    Then silence which was finally broken with this statement:  "Well, all I know is that he's eating the garden you planted..."
    End of conversation. Thirty minutes later, her husband was walking around their yard in a three-piece suit, swinging a home-made lasso at the horse he'd had such trouble believing in.
    Many years later, I was giving an English lesson to an International from Asia.  It was our first lesson; we had only met briefly the day before.
    In the middle of the lesson, she suddenly said, "Last night, I tell Jesus I believe Him.  I ask Him to accept me. Do you think He answer that prayer?"  I was totally taken aback and could just stammer out, "Yes" while wondering what exactly  she knew about Jesus and if I had said the right thing.
    She nodded and said, "I think so, too.  Because room was dark when I  pray. Then a bright  light fill   room and I have peace.. here..."  She pointed to her heart.
    I never saw a moor/ I never saw the sea
    Yet know I how the heather looks/and what a wave must be.
    I never spoke with God/nor visited in Heaven
    Yet certain am I of the spot/ as if the chart  were given.
                                                     Emily Dickinson
    Like Ms. Dickinson, there are many things I've never seen.  Through stray horses and uncharted English lessons, I've learned that just because I haven't seen something for myself, doesn't mean it isn't real.  The proof is in the pudding or, perhaps in this case, in the garden:)
  

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