I"m about ten years old and have one more farm chore to do before I can say it is a wrap on a very dark night. Unless you have experienced it, you can't imagine how dark it is out in the country on the farm. There are no street lights, no flood lights in the yard or along the beaten paths. In fact at this time we had no electric service on the farm. The night was especially dark; one of those moonless nights.
It was my responsibility to shut the chickens safely in at the on- coming of night. You see, chickens have a very regimented life. They spend the day eating, scratching for minerals and small gravel for their craw and drinking lots of water. Laying hens go to the same nest every day to lay one egg, then eat some more. Chickens that range outside go inside as night begins to fall and find their perch on the roost where they spend the entire night. The chicken house door must be closed at this time to keep predators out. This was why that closing that door was my most important task of the day.
Mom was wiping the last dish dry as I steeped into the kitchen. She looked at me and said, "Did you close the chicken house door?" I dropped my head and said, "No not yet." She replied with, "Well, go do it now." I steeped to the back porch, put my hand on the screen door, pushed it half open and looked where the chicken house sat 250 feet down the hill but I could not see the chicken house it was so dark. Mom stood in the kitchen door and saw my hesitation. Without saying a word or urging me out into the night, she reached for the old lantern hanging on the wall. After striking a match and lighting the lantern, she steeped past me and out the door and said, "Lets go." Down the hill I followed close on her heels until we came to the door which I dutifully closed and secured those precious hens for another night.
We turned up hill toward the house. Mom took my hand in her's as she with the other held the lantern in front of us to light the path back home.
I have thought about that experience many times and thought how it is so much like what our Savior does for us in those dark times in our lives. The scriptures says, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." When I come to that darkest hour and walk life's path for the last time He has promised to see me safely to my Heavenly Home. Claim Him today as your guide for the rest of the journey if you haven't already.
This is a great story, Dad. God doesn't force us out into the darkness alone, but goes with us and guides us. Thanks for sharing.
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