Ram

February 13, 2019

Four years ago when we moved into our present (and hopefully final) home, one of the first outdoor projects was cleaning out the fish pond across the driveway. Years of sediment had built up till it was nearly full, but many wheelbarrow loads later, I had it emptied out right down to the concrete base. Unfortunately, it no longer held water. I spent a small fortune trying to seal it, finding my best success with some discarded rubber roofing a friend gave me.

For two years, the goldfish I had brought from my office fish tank thrived in that pond, growing to about five or six inches. In the fall, I netted them and put them in tubs in the basement where they did quite well over the winter. The second year, before I could get them down into the basement, I had them in their tubs in the garage, where one evening the door got left open. In the morning, all that was left of my goldfish were the heads and bits of fins, thanks to an accommodating raccoon who I’m sure appreciated the breakfast buffet I had set out for him.

The pond still leaked, and this past year, it just sat, fishless, but I’ve had this notion of diverting water from the creek to the pond, and making an overflow back to the creek. But how to do this without running a wire to a pump? The answer lies in an invention that dates back to the eighteenth century—a hydraulic ram. My brother in law has used one for over twenty years to provide the water for his home. He doesn’t have electric, but he has all the water he needs thanks to this ingenious invention. The only problem is, they are quite expensive, and I wanted to do this on the cheap. Enter YouTube.

I’ve found some videos showing the process for making a hydraulic ram out of PVC pipe, and I’ve been taking notes. I’ve had to repeatedly review the videos; after all, I am a preacher, not an engineer. But I’m getting close, and hope before the weekend to begin, unless Linda determines that baseboard in the upstairs bedroom is a more pressing matter. 

So what does all this have to do with gratitude? Four years ago when I began my gratitude diaries, I pledged to eschew all negative comments and posts on Facebook. The recent news of our governor’s signing a radical abortion law allowing babies to be killed up to birth has been so alarming to me that I’ve written on it and shared others’ posts. I abandoned my own principal that social media only preaches to the choir and convinces no one of anything. It makes you feel as if you are doing something significant when you’re only venting. Over the past few days, I’ve noticed that it’s been harder for me to be thankful. The blessings haven’t diminished, but I’ve been putting my attention in the wrong places. 

In order to get it right, I’ve had to watch the instructional videos for the ram pump numerous times. I’ve written down parts lists, wandered through the plumbing department of Home Depot, and watched the videos again. Life is like that. We make progress, forget, make progress, adjust, and make progress again. I’m going to make that pump, and I’m going to reclaim my joy. I just have to get my eyes focused on God’s “video” once more. As I do, the gratitude won’t be something I’ve had to conjure up by my own effort. It will well up by the power of the Holy Spirit, just like the water from that hydraulic ram uses the power of the creek.