Last week, on my drive home from a long walk at a nearby county park, I noticed a sign at a local farm announcing that strawberries were ripe and ready for sale. I had been watching and waiting and hoping for this sign. I pulled onto the gravel road, drove the short distance between the fields from highway to shed, and parked the car.
I donned my mask as we all must do these days, but I think the woman behind the till could still see the smile on my face as I picked out a few cartons and paid. “I’ve been waiting for this,” I told her.
Back in the car, I set the strawberries on the seat next to me, already googling a recipe for shortcake and planning a nice surprise for our evening meal. But before I put the car in reverse and left the farm, I reached over and grabbed a plump red berry and bit into it. Still warm from the sun, it melted in my mouth and I couldn’t help but think about the goodness of God’s brown and green earth. I offered a prayer of gratitude for sun and earth and farmer and field.
Even in the midst of pandemic and racial injustice and unrest, even when we are confused and not sure what comes next, we have a gentle reminder from John’s gospel that sometimes the very best thing we can do is to hold tight to the one who created us: “I am the vine and you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.” (John 15:5)
Over the next few days I was drawn back to that scripture passage and to others that still speak to us of this unique relationship we have (mere branches to the vine of God’s presence) and the responsibility we have because of that position in God’s great plan. For if we’re going to claim a place on God’s vine, we have the duty to bear fruit that will draw others to God. We have an obligation to be the kind of fruit that brings broad smiles to others (even behind their masks) and makes them wonder what kind of master farmer produces such goodness.
I continued to pray with these images, sitting in silence, enjoying again and again the strawberries from that farmer’s field, and finding in those times of delicious contemplation a few words that helped me, once again, through a rough patch. For what I found (or remembered) is that sometimes the very best we can do is be content with being branches that bear fruit, attached to the vine until that very last moment when someone picks us off because we have become the very thing they need.
10 comments On Content being branches, bearing fruit
Beautiful and thought provoking – just what I need today! God bless you!
Thank you Steve! Your writings have meant so much over the past ten years.
Thanks very much for writing to say so! Have a great week.
Thanks, as always, Judy.
Outstanding once again Steve!
Thanks Steve for reminding us that we do not have to prove anything but just be what God created us to be. Just as the strawberries gave you the inspiration to write this piece so we have been created to play our part in bringing God’s Kingdom on earth as Jesus taught us in the Lord’s Prayer.
Peace at this troubled time and blessings from across the pond.
Thank you, Peter. There’s so much power and wisdom for living in the Lord’s Prayer, if we would only believe the words we are praying…
Thank you, Tom. Hope all is well with you and your family. Thank you for remaining on the frontlines of healthcare during this difficult time.
I loved the granddaughter song. Thank you. I liked the strawberry story…such an important message for these hard times.
Thanks, Patricia! Hold those little ones close.