Cherries Sweet n Tart!

I don’t know about ya’ll but we had a “rollercoaster” of a summer and parts of it I don’t wish to have repeated!.  It ran the gambit from tragic to worrisome to confusing, to exhausting, to amazing and then back around again!!

On our trip back home (From Wisconsin back to South Carolina) we stopped at one of my husband’s cousins to drop off a couple of things and we had a few moments to catch up.  She shared about the challenges they were/are going through and made the comment that life really isn’t a bowl of cherries! She said her daughter stated that it was really a mix of sweet and tart cherries, and you needed to watch out for the “pits”. Here’s where God smiled…., Well, it just-so-happened that one of the reasons we go to visit family in Wis when we do is so we have the opportunity to pick the most incredible cherries in Door County Wis. (she had no idea that we did that!)  We pick, pit, process and freeze them in quart bags. We purposefully mix the dark sweet ones with the bright tart ones to have a great flavor mix for making all things “cherry”!  We pack them back to our home in a cooler.

At this point I excitedly-with a silly smirk on my face-, explained what we had in our cooler and handed her a frozen quart of sweet and tart cherries, but with the pits removed!  We did discuss the risk of perhaps finding a stray pit or two amidst the frozen quart because after all there were “human” hands in the mix and even though we tried our best to make sure all the pits were removed, ummmm…, we aren’t “perfect”!

We all had a good giggle because only our “all knowing”, present God would have been able to orchestrate this type of conversation with appropriate illustrations and practical applications!

We hugged,  said our “see ya laters”, and headed back to our “adventure” home, knowing without a doubt that we are heard, loved and each have a part in God’s plan to make HIM  known.

The sweet and the tart make up our lives, the pits and the un-pitted moments do not go unnoticed.

When we create that cherry pie, cobbler, crisp, jam or jelly we have gone from the individual single plump cherry dangling without purpose on a tree, to a complex creation meant to please and serve others! (if you share!)

Ha!  Did I just see you do an eye roll?

I know, it’s a stretch but Hey, we serve a God that is in the details of our life!!

He does have a sense of humor too!

So, today enjoy your bowl of cherries, be mindful of the pits!