Comments and Poems
By Ruth R. Martin
I grew up near Wilson Dam in North Alabama
and when I was a child it was a thrill when my Daddy would drive us to
the dam when all the spillways were open.
People from all around would gather to watch.
It was like a small Niagara when the unleashed water boiled foaming out
of the spillways all across the wide Tennessee River. It was an awesome
and not too often seen sight and the sound was a deafening roar that
drowned out speech. At other times it was a very pleasant, peaceful
scene with only a few controlled spillways open .
Years later I saw the REAL Niagara in all it's
indescribable power, majesty and beauty. It was overwhelming, the
continual roar of the mighty Falls silenced all attempts at
conversation. How small we mere humans felt before such wild,
uncontrolled force. Beautiful, yes, wonderful to see, yes, a sight never
to be forgotten, yes, but we seemed so tiny, so insignificant,
standing, gazing up at that curtain of power..
How like God's Heavenly Spillways that He opens and closes at will. He
Who holds worlds in His finger-tips; He Who speaks breath into every
living creature; He Who controls the winds and waves ; He Who hangs
stars, and planets, and constellations in space; it is to This One that
we take our petitions and
prayers. Aware of this, we often go timidly into
into His Presence with sometimes skimpy Hope,
shaky Faith and trembling Prayer and whisper, "Father---" and stammer
out our need to Him.
Our Heavenly Father bends, listens intently and says. "Believe. Trust
Me." And so we bow there, quaking inside. Sighing, He says,"Child.
look!" and SUDDENLY He opens the Spillways of Heaven and we are FLOODED
by the torrents of Joy, Peace, Love, and all and more than we asked for
..And we stand awe-struck before His throne at the wondrous outpouring
of HIs Grace...and all we did was come timidly
and ..ask.
We give HIm our "little faith"--our five loaves and two fishes, and He
turns them into a feast.
We cry out like that Biblical father, "Lord, I believe! Help Thou mine
unbelief!", and He
ACCEPTS our little faith, our weak trust and performs a marvelous
miracle---time after time
after time. His great pleasure is to shower us with rich blessings; all
that stands in the way
is our own closed heart .He sweetly says, "Ask and it shall be given
you"
I wrote a little poem some years ago--I imagined a hot, summer day and
we sit on the porch, hot, thirsty and tired. Suddenly, the Lord stands
there, invitingly holding a beautiful silver pitcher
filled to the brim and overflowing with refreshing ice-cold lemonade or
iced- tea, so cold the pitcher is frosty on the outside and little
trickles of water drip down the sides . Ah , it looks so good, so
refreshing and we sit there, glasses in our hands, licking our parched
lips...and refuse to raise our empty glasses for Him to fill.
