You Can Get er Done

Tucker saw the 4th of July as halfway through the summer. That meant school started after Labor Day, 1947, in Indiana. It was hard for Tucker to give up the freedom of finding new places to investigate, or spending all day at the gladiola farm up the road, helping to weed the rows of bulbs. Since he got the Model A Ford from Old Noah Domonick, that meant he could roam even farther. Even though he was thirteen and had no driver's license, that didn't keep him off the country roads and neighborhood streets. School? Tucker figured that would only slow him down. 

"Gramma, I don't think I can do this?" Tucker drooped along through the dining room and into the kitchen. 

His grandmother was pouring herself a glass of lemonade. "Would you like some, Tucker? And, what is this thing that you can't do?"

"Sure, I'll have some." Tucker leaned his elbow on the kitchen counter. "I just don't see how I'll have the time for school."

"Oh, ya?" she asked in her Pennsylvania Dutch way. "What are you so busy with?"

"Things, Gramma. Lots of things. I help Butch Randolf at the gas station for one."

"That is always nice, Tucker," Gramma said with a smile. "But school isn't an option. You will go to school. You can do it. God will help you find things at school you like."

Tucker answered immediately. "I like my friends and sports, baseball and basketball."

Gramma sipped her lemonade. "Then make the time you spend with friends and enjoying sports a reward for getting your schoolwork done. God will help you. Remember your Sunday school teacher's Bible verse from last Sunday? Philippians 4:13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Tucker gulped down some cold drink and burst out. "I know. Mrs. Kline reminded me, I can do all things."

"Nein, Tucker." Gramma sat down at the dining room table. "You can not do all things. It means, if you are doing the will of God, you can do all he wants you to do with the help of Jesus."

Tucker finished off the rest of his lemonade. "I get it. That means school, too."

.........

That is what Tucker figured out a few days after Independence Day. What things do you need help doing? Are they good and right things, things that help others? Are they within your corner of the world? Or, do you believe you have to fly a thousand miles away to help someone? 

Gramma would say... "Just like the garden, grow where you're planted."

School can be fun when you ask God to point out the fun things you find every day... friends, sports, activities, or that special class that is so interesting you search Google for more information about the topic. Less grumbling leaves more time and space for fun. You can get er done.