W is for WHEELBARROW

Dad used to have a cattle shed at the top of the field beside our house. Every morning, when I would be having a last slice of toast before running down the lane to catch the bus for school, I would see him walk past the kitchen window with a bale of hay strung over his back, on his way to that shed which he could access through a door that opened out on to the garden. But during the winter. The few cattle that he kept over the winter spent most of those months there and two or three times over that period, it was necessary to clean out the shed and lay completely new straw bedding. This was heavy work, as I found out on several occasions, for the only tools that he used to complete the task were a grape and a wheelbarrow. There were no shortcuts that could be taken, just several hours' manual labour that many of today's farmers would have shirked in favour of a tractor job. But, over the years he persisted with his chore, filling the barrow and manoeuvring it the twenty or so yards to the manure pit where he would then proceed to empty it in much the same way as he had filled it and then returning to start the whole process again.

I always knew when the job was underway for I could hear the rhythmic whistling sound of the barrow as its wheel casing rubbed against the axle on its way to and from the shed. But the barrow had other functions as well. At weeding time it transported discarded plants to the dump, often it was filled with grass cuttings at lawn mowing time, was used when the yard was being swept free of debris and when a tree had been cut up for firewood in the orchard, it carried the logs to their new home in the garage. Occasionally it was even used to give rides to cousins and friends, after a good washing down, of course.Apart from the occasional flat wheel, it required no servicing and faithfully did its job whenever called upon.But it was a brute of a wheelbarrow. It had a heavy iron frame and bolted to this was the 'bucket' in which everything sat. Often it weighed more than its load but it was so big that it held twice as much as any other barrow.

It has been a member of our family for over half a century now and I haven't seen another one similar to it in the past thirty years. These days it still does many of the chores that it knows from memory but time has not been kind because four reasonably sized holes now occupy the places where corners of the bucket once were and it certainly isn't as appealing as some wheelbarrows I see in the DIY stores, yet I wouldn't swap it for any other.

And I feel the same about my faith in God. It's a simple faith, based on what I read and learn about Him in his Word. Despite the claims of modern society that we must move with the times in this new century, God doesn't need any new spins on salvation or alternative man-made theories to convince me of His love when the 'old, old story' still works for me. Isaiah records, 'Even to your old age and grey hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you.I have made you and I will carry you.' After all, the faith of my fathers carried them through and it's still strong enough to carry me.