By Jannie B. Johnson
Jackson Advocate Guest Writer
In his inspirational classic, Keeper of the Springs, Peter Marshall makes it clear that well-meaning folks can overlook the very cause or the very person who determines the success or failure in a business, the harmony or disharmony in a relationship, or the increase or decrease in social problems/crimes.
Marshall’s story is about a town that depended on springs for all its water.
High up in the town’s hills a strange and quiet forest dweller took it upon him to be the keeper of the springs. He patrolled the hills and kept the springs clean. Fresh, clean, water like a river of life flowed down to the busy town.
One day the city council scanned the civic budget and found in it the salary of the Keeper of the springs. They saw no need for this unseen ranger for their town. Therefore, they voted to cut back cost by cutting out the Keeper.
With no Keeper, the town soon had many problems. The water was not clean, and a green scum soon befouled its stagnant surface. An epidemic of sickness reached into every home.
The council met again and acknowledged its mistake. The council members voted to seek the Keeper and beg him to return to the job that they had thought was not needed.
The Keeper returned and it was not long before the stench disappeared, sickness waned, and convalescent children laughed again.
In the words of Peter Marshall, “Do not think me fanciful, too imaginative, or too extravagant in my language when I say, personally, that I think of … God as the Keeper of our springs in America.
But, America has allowed her diversity, inclusion, and equity to cause her to make laws that cut back and cut out the Keeper of her springs. She has convinced herself that the unseen God of her fathers is NO longer needed in public life. And, His importance in her homes is marginalized. Now she is having multiplicity of problems. Her social problems are up and safety is down. Fear is all around.
Like the town’s council, America needs to acknowledge that she voted the mistake of downsizing God, the Creator of diversity, the Fountain of unity, and the Keeper of her springs.
Fellow Americans, what are we going to do for our country that she might restore her Keeper and again experience old-fashioned morality, old-fashioned honesty and old-fashioned kindness?
Happy Holidays and Best Wishes.
