Blueberries May 2012
According to the blueberry council (yes, there really is a council just for blueberries!) blueberries are one of the healthiest fruits around. Their benefits include high fiber, antioxidants, vitamin C, manganese, eighty calories per cup, and no fat. Personally, I love them because they taste delicious and make the most wonderful pancakes of all the fruits. They're great for smoothies, muffins, and atop cereal, too! One of the more decadent blueberry desserts I love was introduced to me by my mother-in-law, one of my dearest friends - Blueberry Cake Roll. It's really more of an upside down blueberry crisp. It calls for Dream Whip, so I've modified it to use Cool Whip instead. I don't think it's lost a bit of its charm by doing so.
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Blueberry Pancakes, May 2011
The beauty of growing blueberries is that the whole bush doesn't ripen at one time. Each day, we gather about a cupful from our bushes. I throw them into a freezer bag until we have enough to make something yummy or I use them right away in a smoothie. Sometimes, I simply graze upon the bushes with my dachshund, Gus Gus. He gets the bottom branches and I get the top ones. How easy it is to gather the fruit and enjoy it whenever and however I choose.
If only the fruit of the Spirit were as easy to gather and use. One of my favorite verses is Galatians 5:22,23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. How I wish I could grow these things in myself as easily as the blueberries grow on our bushes. How I wish I could stop wrestling with the Holy Spirit to attain these sweetest fruits. I love my family and friends. I feel joy sometimes. I'm peaceful upon occasion. I can exercise patience when I must...more or less. I'm sure most of everyone can. But I know this verse means that the Spirit can help us feel these things, as we need them, in every circumstance. That's where I fall short. Do I really love my neighbors as God wants me to love them? Do I feel peace in my spirit as I watch my college graduate ready herself for a move over a thousand miles away? Or when my father, 83, is hospitalized, and I'm making the fourteen hour drive to get to him? Am I really trusting God to see me through the trials of this life, full of the fruit of the Spirit, or am I trying to cope with everything on my own with a withered and dried up spiritual garden? I know what dried up blueberry plants look like because it hit 107 degrees last year while we were on vacation and our sprinkler system, though set to water automatically, simply wasn't up to the task of handling that kind of heat. It was heartbreaking to see the withering fruit and the brittle branches. Is this how God feels when we refuse to bear the fruit He has offered us? Are we just as withering inside as the blueberries were? Are we just as brittle?
I'll contemplate this as we enjoy our bounty of blueberries this season. Each time I graze or gather, I'll think of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, and I hope each time I'll choose the best fruit of all - the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It's a sweet gift, isn't it?
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