wow this is good thanks for it Delma ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sherri Crum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 4:00 PM Subject: [RecipesAndMore] The Old Fisherman
> > the old fisherman > > Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of > Johns 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, > shriveled 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 a 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 prefaced with 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 favor, 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 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 neighbor 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 illness 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 was > imagining just such a scene in heaven. There'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. > > The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the > outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." > > Sherri > > > > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.17.27/671 - Release Date: 2/5/2007 > 4:48 PM > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Access the Recipes And More list archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/recipesandmore%40googlegroups.com/ Visit the group home page at: http://groups.google.com/group/RecipesAndMore -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
