Those 70ish girls…On any given day

I was thinking about this poem today, so I searched the Murdo Girl archives and found it. I hope you enjoy reading it…

The sun hid behind an ominous cloud. More clouds gathered with threatening billows.

While Mickie and Sam rode their horses to school, I hid my head under my pillows.

Ma said a cold wind was blowing. The clouds flattened out and were  close to the ground.

I crawled out of bed and climbed down the ladder. Calico, my cat, must be found.

The sun never leaves. The world turns away into darkness. It keeps turning until we come back.

I saw Ma in the kitchen by the big cast iron stove adding wood from the dwindling stack.

I knew what she would say,

On any given day.”

Pa came through the door his face red from the wind. “The cows have water and hay,” he told Ma.

I saw the snow blowing behind him. The wind made a howling sound. My throat felt swollen and raw.

Ma wiped her brow with her apron. Her face looked pale and grim. I stood there unsteadily…

“I fear for the boys,” she said. “That school house is old, and this storm has turned deadly.”

I knew what she would say,

On any given day.”

In the end, we were safe, though Mickie and Sam rode their horses through mountains of snow.

Ma brought me warm soup and I told her there was something I needed to know.

I asked, “Why do you say,

On any given day?”

Her smile was angelic as she began to explain…

I’ve never forgotten what she said to me.

She felt love, peace, and strength because she believed in Thee whom she couldn’t see.

“God never leaves us. Even when we turn away. His son, Jesus, promised to return to us…

On any given day.”