Times of Plenty,
Times of Want

A Poem by Ruth Bell Graham

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.