Its that time of year. The strawberries at a local farm are coming in strong. I know because I was blessed with eight quarts yesterday morning. My mother and father in law made the drive yesterday and picked up enough for a small army – I was one of the happy recipients. And oh, are they sweet. There is nothing as good as a fresh, locally grown strawberry.
Well, unless you’re eating a fresh strawberry that you just picked yourself.
How do I know this, you might wonder… Well, I’ll tell you. In the summer of 1982 I was visiting my grandparents who lived on the rolling hills and plains of Iowa. On their property they had large gardens, which happened to have a big portion of one of the plots designated for strawberries. rows and rows of strawberries.
In the morning before it would get too hot, (which isn’t really possible at the end of June in Iowa- it was always hot…) my great grandmother (GG, we called her) would send us out with our buckets to pick berries that had become ripe. I must confess I didn’t enjoy it – it was hot, sticky, uncomfortable and dirty. I didn’t fully understand it then, but I can look back with such appreciation now. Those were the most incredible, tasty, berries – better than any you could buy.
Some things in life require significant amounts of discomfort, patience and effort, but in the end – those have the highest reward.
I compare this thought with my own life now. Too often, I want the easy, painless road. I pray for God’s will to be mine, but, “please let Your way for me be the one without sorrow.” I forget that to be like Christ is to take up my cross, to join with Him in suffering.
Daily I am bombarded with this world’s way of thinking. The easy life is the “sweet life.” My way right away. If I’m honest, its what I long for. I want to focus on Scriptures that promise joy and happiness and overlook the ones that require commitment, loyalty, long-suffering.
But there is truth to my strawberry principle : Berries that are served over ice cream because my hands harvested them in the heat of the day are so much juicier and delightful than berries bought at the store. Likewise, healing for one person who has known significant pain and illness is so much more gratifying, even inspiring, than the health of another who has been well all along. True joy is savored the most when it follows a period of suffering.
From James 1:
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
Heavenly Father, What a promise You have made for those who love You! Blessings will follow the trials. Help me to be steadfast to the end, whatever the trial may be, so that I may taste the sweetness of your lovingkindness.
(written in May of 2010)
daily portion 