Resting in the Shady Green Pastures. About five years ago, as a novice blogger, I wrote a post about my mother-in-law, Tava Katherine Elkins. (Okay, I am still inexperienced, still a novice and an amateur but I persevere.) You can go read it here, Tava said herself it was very good! (smile) And it might help you understand today’s post a little better if you read that one first. Your call. (Bigger smile and a wink emoji.)
My only mother-in-law passed away at 5:27 a.m. today. Thankfully, The Sweetheart and I had driven up Wednesday night after updates from family. We were at her bedside all night and when she went on to be with Jesus this morning. She suffers no more!
Tava and her beloved Charles Richard, were funeral singers. Sounds morbid, doesn’t it? It’s not. It wasn’t. They were the best at it. They sang together as a duet at their home church where Charles Richard, Dick as he was called, also led worship. Or as we used to say, he was the Song Leader. They were both well known for their singing; Tava for her rich alto and Dick for his strong, lead voice.
Together they were perfect.
It would have been grand if they had kept track of the number of funerals and weddings, they sang at over the years. They were a comfort to grieving families as they sang beautiful old choruses or classics such as Amazing Grace.
But there was one song, one that stood out from the rest, one that was requested almost everywhere they went, one that no one else could sing because it was “Dick and Tava’s song”. That song was In the Shady Green Pastures. Do not confuse it with God Leads His Dear Children Along, that is a beautiful song as well but not the same one.
It goes something like this:
In the shady, green pastures
Full of riches and grace
With my blessed Redeemer
In His tender embrace
Here I feed on the manna
Coming down from above
In the shady, green pastures
With my Shepherd I love
Beautiful lyrics, am I right? There is more to it but this paints the picture.
As a young teenager, then an engaged young lady, then a newlywed in their family and a young mother to their three grandsons, I heard the song, liked the song, loved to hear them sing it but I don’t think I ever truly understood it. Until recently, that is.
I had always pictured the writer of Psalm 23, King David, lying around in these luscious, green meadows or open fields covered in thick, abundant grass.
But maybe that wasn’t the way the pasture was in Jerusalem at all!
Jerusalem hillsides are dirt, sand, rocks, and little sprigs of grass or vegetation popping up occasionally. This area had its share of dry weather and maybe David was talking about what he was seeing in the pastures and what we would experience in our own lives when we were walking in valleys that might not be so plush.
There is just enough moisture at night on the rocks to grow these tiny, little shoots of grass that you can see along the hillside, especially if you are looking from a distance.
If we could see even closer, we would be amazed at the dirt paths where the sheep would graze on those little shoots of grass. There isn’t much there and you wonder how they could possibly benefit and stay nourished!
But it’s enough. Why?
Get a little mouthful, take a few steps, get another little mouthful, take a few steps…get the picture? It’s enough for that day, it supplies the needs of the sheep for that day!
Isn’t that like our God?! This is what a Shepherd does, no wonder that analogy is used over and over in scripture. Our Lord might not set us down in meadows that are so full we are overwhelmed and expectant that it will always be that way. No, He takes us out to the pastures where the little shoots are and we get just enough. Enough for today’s trial, today’s difficulty or today’s sustenance.
Just as the children of Israel in the wilderness were fed manna from above, they received just what they needed for that day! They weren’t to hoard it or store it or eat more than they could hold, God would send another supply the next day, and the next, and the next!
And that is just what God did for The Sweetheart’s mother. She walked with her Lord for almost her entire life, at least 85+ years, found Him to be true, found Him to be faithful, found Him to be enough! When she sang about those shady, green pastures, she had been through “stuff”. She had seen God answer prayer and she had seen Him walk beside them, carry them if need be when the going got tough.
He supplied their NEEDS.
Lean down Tava, get a little mouthful, take another step, get a little mouthful, take another step. In other words, get on your knees, Tava, open the Word, spend time in prayer. The next day? Get on your knees, Tava, open the Word, spend time in prayer. You get the idea.
And the key was to keep walking! Keep trusting, keep believing in what you had seen God do in the past and know that He was able to deliver again. He never changes!
Today, my mother-in-law has more than enough, I am confident. She has reached her one, lifetime goal, to “…make Heaven my home.”
I would give anything to hear them sing it one more time and I am sure we have a recording somewhere, I wish I could have shared it with you today.
Thank you, Tava, for your faithfulness to the Kingdom so that your children and now ALL of your grandchildren and great-grandchildren are following in your footsteps. You walked in those pastures when it seemed there wasn’t going to be enough, but God was faithful, you were faithful and we will forever reap the benefits and rewards.
So, whether you have begun your fast or not, consider things that might be getting in the way of your armor. Remember, the armor of God will strengthen you, not drag you down! Ask God to show you things that have crept in and you might need to address.
