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| photo courtesy of The Chicago Tribune.com |
TODAY THE WORD is RAINGUAGE. With it raining outside, this little device came to mind and how over the years it has played an important part in a lot of people’s life. In an article by Mary Bellis, she said, “One source has is that the son of King Sejong the Great, who reigned the Choson Dynasty from 1418 to 145, invented the first rain gauge. King Sejong sought ways to improve agricultural technology to provide his subjects with adequate food and clothing.
In improving agricultural technology, Sejong contributed to the sciences of astronomy and meteorology (weather). He invented a calendar for the Korean people and ordered the development of accurate clocks. Droughts plagued the kingdom and King Sejong directed every village to measure the amount of rainfall.
His son, the crown prince, later called King Munjong, invented a rain gauge while measuring rainfall at the palace. Munjong decided that instead of digging into the earth to check rain levels, it would be better to use a standardized container. King Sejong sent a rain gauge to every village, and they were used as an official tool to measure the farmer’s potential harvest. Sejong also used these measurements to determine what the farmer’s land taxes should be. The rain gauge was invented in the fourth month of 1441. The invention of the rain gauge in Korea came two hundred years before inventor Christopher Wren created a rain gauge (tipping bucket rain gauge circa 1662) in Europe”
My daughter’s grandfather on her daddy’s side was a beautiful humble man who was a quiet man who farmed and watched the skies and his crops. He measured each rain with his rain gauge and reported to all of us on how much rain we had received. He could look at the sky and by all appearances it looked clear to all of us novices, but PaPa Smith would say, “It’s gonna rain, children” and doubting Thomas’s as we were, we would think, oh yeah not a cloud in the sky. In about a couple of hours, here it would come; the skies darkened with the clouds rolling in; and it started pouring filling the rain gauge up and PaPa would smile. He wouldn’t chastise us for doubting; he just checked to see how much rain had fallen. He taught us to not jump so fast to conclusions and watch for the signs and monitor the results in a calm, collected way. He didn’t gloat over being right; as a matter of fact; he never mentioned it. PaPa was not educated by school with only a few years, but he was oh so wise. He could figure in his head and you could believe he had it right. His “book learning” was limited but scholars might have fallen short if they had tried to “out commonsense” him as he looked at things in a realistic but fair way; was not judgmental in the least; and had love and joy in his heart for everyone. Rain gauges were an essential tool to him but his best gauge in life was his trust in God. He not only had faith; he was humble about it; didn’t boast about anything; loved with his entire heart; gave to his children with willingness; and loved his neighbors and church family; but above all, He loved God more! Gauge your life with a God gauge; measure each drop of charity and love in that gauge; do more today than yesterday; and fill your life with the rain of God’s love. (TRIBUTE TO ISAAC BROWN SMITH, well loved by us all and especially his granddaughter, Missy)
DAILY FEATURED BIBLE VERSE:
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
(c) copyright 2013 Arline Lott Miller. The material here copyrighted, use only by permission.
