Ruby Hayes - Ruby's Kitchen Table (Page 5)

Watercolor of a farmhouse kitchen window over the sink at first light, close and straight on, early sun across a worn sill with a ring stain, garden fence soft beyond the glass.

A rut worn deep enough

"Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart." — Luke 18:1 Luke says he told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart, and I notice that Luke tells you what the parable

Watercolor of an old pale yellow Labrador mix standing still on a county road verge, seen from behind, road stretching ahead past wire fence and fields in thin morning light.

The size of one day

"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." — Psalm 90:12 I do not number my days. I have never once sat down and worked out how many I have had or how many are likely left, and I am not

Watercolor of a farm yard at dusk looking east toward a weathered barn lit by low sun from behind, a wheelbarrow abandoned near the garden edge, long shadows on grass.

While the light is free

"Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." — James 1:17 My mother used to say: do it while the light is free. She meant get

Watercolor of a late-September vegetable garden, bean vines gone brown on poles, squash leaves going pale, green tomatoes on stakes, marigolds still bright at one end.

The state I would call honest

"You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with richness." — Psalm 65:11 The garden this morning is in the state I would call honest. Nothing out there is pretending. The bean vines are brown string on the poles. The squash gave out weeks ago

Watercolor view west from a farmhouse porch at last light, gravel drive between two shade trees, goldenrod along a fence, sky holding a low band of fading colour.

The year comes level

"He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end." — Ecclesiastes 3:11 Tonight a little after eight o'clock the

Watercolor of an empty 1970s elementary classroom in late afternoon, small wooden desks in rows, green chalkboard imperfectly erased, low autumn light across worn linoleum.

I was standing there when it did

"Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray." — Proverbs 22:6 I taught third grade at Lexington Elementary for five years before I stopped to have babies, and in the fall of 1975 there was a boy in my class named Curtis who

A darkening front room at dusk, an unlit window looking west over trees to a low band of fading sunset.

Sunday Evening

"May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves." — Psalm 126:5-6 It is Sunday evening and I am not going to be able to

A Sunday school room just after class, the circle of chairs disturbed, felt fish and loaves on the board and crayons scattered on the table.

There was a boy in the circle

"Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear." — Isaiah 65:24 There was a boy in the circle this morning that I did not know was coming, and he was my grandson. I teach the third and fourth graders at Trinity. Eight

A farmhouse upstairs hallway in near-darkness, bare floorboards and open doorways barely visible in faint blue light.

The watches of the night

"When I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy." — Psalm 63:6-7 I was awake at three and I did not

An old apple tree with a gnarled lichened trunk carrying red fruit, a weathered barn and flat pasture behind it.

Full of sap

"The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap." — Psalm 92:

An old kitchen window seen from inside at first light, looking east over a garden edge, pasture and a distant tree line.

She is on the list

"The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of all who fear him; he also hears their cry, and saves them." — Psalm 145:18-19 Hannah did not call back and I have decided

Small green tomatoes hanging on a spent, yellowing vine, with bare soil and flat pasture behind.

Eleven that will not make it

"Whoever observes the wind will not sow; and whoever regards the clouds will not reap... In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hands be idle; for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.