Life is like a bowl of strawberries

Nothing lifts the spirits like a big bowl of Oregon strawberries—especially when they’re home grown. Some of you have heard about my misadventures over the years in trying to stave off rapacious deer, and the incursions of slugs, millipedes, and sow bugs. Some years I’ve been lucky to harvest more than a handful of berries. As you can tell from this photo, I’m enjoying a bumper crop this season. I’ve been baiting for slugs (beer traps) and keeping plastic netting over the beds. What a difference that makes. It’s only taken me 12 years to figure out a system that works.

Small pleasures like growing (and eating!) strawberries take on added meaning when your physical and mental capacities are impaired. My life is not joyless, despite the impression my previous blogs might have given. Among the things for which I’m grateful is the sunny weather we’ve had in the last week. I’ve also had fun hunting bugs with my delightful 5-year-old niece, Ruby, and enjoyed walks in the woods with good friends. There is also enormous pleasure to be had in seeing both Nick and Allie grow and learn through their respective activities. What awesome kids. The love and caring that I receive from Ellen is precious beyond words. The time that I’ve spent recently in God’s word, and in conversation with him, has been perhaps the greatest blessing of all.

Life is hard right now, but it’s not all a downer. It’s sometimes on the darkest days that God’s piercing light reminds me that he is good and that he has a boundless love for me. Not even strawberries can compete with a promise like that.