Times of Plenty,
Times of Want

A Poem by Ruth Bell Graham

September 1, 2009

Plenty
is always provision for a need:
another’s
or some future of our own—
unrealized, perhaps;
unseen.

The seven years of plenty
Joseph stored
against the years of famine
that would come.

So
when a winter
promises to be
severe,
nature generously provides
for little friends;
and sensing
in her lavish spread
a hint of coming want,
the ants
and squirrels are busy
harvesting;
and so am I.

I have been
so generously provided for
in happiness,
good memories,
family,
and true friends;
and more than all—
His presence and His Word;
perhaps it is a “sign,”
as mountain people say,
that winter is to be
a tough one.

If that is so,
let it be;
my larders are well stocked.



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