I cannot help but smile as I drink my first cup of Door County Blueberry Cobbler Coffee. It's cold outside and I feel like I just cheated the weather by imbibing on this brew that cut right through the cold today.
Job 1:21 And he said, "naked i came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."
Whenever there is a late freeze like we experienced last night I worry about our apple crop and how the apple buds will be impacted by the frost. Our apple trees have fed a lot of people throughout the years and I always look forward to the spring blossoms and the fall harvest. My wife and I just ate the last of applesauce we put up in 2019 a week or two ago. Last year's harvest also experienced a late spring frost and it was the worst harvest we experienced in 30 years. We usually have apple sauce all the way through to the following harvest.
Yet last year our garden produced more squash than ever before and we are still eating the spaghetti squash and will be able to do so for a couple more months. We just finished eating the tomatoes we were blessed with last summer.
What did we learn from this? We need to be content in all things. For some reason God gave the apple trees a rest from producing mass quantities of apples , yet he gave us an abundance of squash and tomatoes. I would be lying if I said that we didn't enjoy the squash and all the different things we made from the tomatoes. During this covid crisis and with me being laid up any grocery shopping was left up to Rene to do. She wasn't able to venture out much and just picked up the absolute necessary items we needed which was usually just milk and dog food. Yet we enjoyed delicious pasta sauces made from the tomato harvest of last year. We learned how to make squash bread and squash soup.
God knew what we would need and He provided. Now here is the funny thing. No we did not eat a lot of pies from our apple tree and apple sauce wasn't in over abundant supply, but we were still able to give some apples away. While I was sick last month and at night when breathing wasn't as easy as it usually is, Rene would bring to me a hot beverage every night before going to bed. She reminded me that even those puny, not so hot apples made plenty of cider to ease me through the illness. Rene really did not want to go to the store for anything if possible and one morning as she was making French Toast for breakfast she told me that the toast would be without syrup and jam would have to do because we were out of syrup. Now for me eating pancakes or French Toast without syrup is like taking a shower with a rain coat on. But I ate it without complaining and was thankful to have bread.
Later that day I heard Rene laughing and she called me on the phone ( I was in quarantine) to let me know that we would be having pancakes soon and we would have syrup. She said that she had been cleaning our pantry shelves and moving things around and she found a large jar of the apple syrup I made last year tucked away on the back of the shelf. Less pie last year and more syrup. God knew what we would need.
So I learned to be content and also trust God. What He took away was best for us in the long run. Share your blessings with others. Store up whatever God gives you in abundance. Learn to save and never take a job for granted. Work for the pay you receive and give your employer your best.
Today my friends things have changed and for some it has been truly hard. Try to find the lessons learned and write them down. Practice what you learned. For me and my house someone gave us free pepper seeds I can guarantee those will be planted.
Marty
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