Life is Like A Strawberry

Yesterday we went and picked strawberries at our local patch.

I had an epiphany.

Before you enter the patch there is a list of picking rules posted and two big pictures for your viewing. One shows you what a ripe strawberry looks like (red all the way to the top) and the other shows you one that is almost ready (a little green still at the top).  Once we decided we knew what to look for we were on our way.

I teach strong management skills early in this house.  :)

As I watched the girls spread out and begin carefully looking over each strawberry I overheard the owner giving a brief synopsis of the same rules to a group of students.  I couldn't hear all too well until he raised his voice slightly to make his point about which ones to pick when he said, "One more day can make all the difference." 

I couldn't get my mind off of his statement.  Isn't it so true?  

Watching the girls walk the long rows of strawberries I thought about the paths of life.  We are literally confronted with hundreds, if not thousands, of "paths to take" in our lives.  How many times have I said, "I don't know what to do, which way to go?"  Many.  If I were to carefully examine each of the paths, in that moment of time, there would only be one that was red all the way to the top.  The right path.  Or, "the best path" as my mom likes to tell me.   No green on that one at all.  Of course there are times we really want to pick the slightly green path, much like the slightly green strawberry.  That one looks good, easy, bigger...but when we take it (pick it) we are met with hardship, more curves and bends, obstacles...sourness, bitterness, firmness.  

 I would venture to say when I have chosen the slightly green paths in life I was in a hurry to make my decision.  I can honestly say that I have said more than once, " I just don't want to think about this anymore. I want the decision to be made so I can go on with life."  And right there, in that moment, I would decide.  In my moment of reflection, at the patch, I wondered, "What if I had taken just one more day on those decisions in life?"  Let the path ripen to a brilliant red that shines above all of the others saying, "Pick me."  Some seasons of my life could have been much sweeter, easier, more rewarding, more fulfilling...kind of like the reward of the fruit that is just right, ripe, and red to the top.

 Red to the top, like picking the best path, doesn't mean it is going to be perfect.  It just means you are placing the odds in your favor.  

And if life experience has taught me anything...

it is that red to the top is a good bet, for fruits and paths, and one more day really can make all the difference.

--The Mama

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Coming tomorrow!