Picking

It was Sam, Catherine William and I who got to go on this outing. Blake was at school. My friend Dawn called and said that she knew how I loved field trips with my grand babies and as she was chasing an estate sale out towards Alvin, she had run across a place sprinkled with moms and kids that she thought I should know about. It was called Froberg Farms, and she had stopped to check out their produce and found it to be a place where you could pick your own strawberries.

Of course it was right up my alley and I called and got times and directions and we were off. We went on a school day, after William and Catherine had completed theirs, and hardly anyone was there. I bought them first souvenir t-shirts becasue I needed to make sure they would have a reminder of this adventure, and they proudly put them on immediately. We purchased our buckets, each for a dollar, and then were let loose on a designated field to do our picking. There were a few guidelines, like don't cross over the rows, and only pick red ones etc. It was so much fun. But what was the most fun to me was to watch the kids and the different ways they would chose the strawberries that were to go in their basket. Sam, my littlest, only two, got the hang of this quite quickly, but he figured that if he was gonna pick em, he should be eating them at the same time. Talking about a strawberry covered shirt, oh wow! So he picked a little and ate a little and threw his left overs in his bucket. I didn't stop him for after all this was his adventure. William and Catherine were a little bit more discerning. They would sometimes go a ways down the row before they spotted one a good one to pick. To them, this might have been better than an Easter egg hunt. I am not sure what their requirements were, but they did both end up with filled buckets, and dirtied shirts, and happy satisfaction for their job well done.

Picking, everyday we have to go down our rows of life and make decisions. We make choices according to our standards, our experiences, our yearnings, our dreams and our projected outcome for one reason or another. And what might be a clear choice for one might be an undesirable one for another. But all of our choices have consequences, good and not so good. I watched my little friends go carefully down the rows of strawberries an examine the fruits that were available and right at their fingertips, and some of the good ones that I saw were clearly overlooked or overstepped. Oh, it made me think about all the fruits that God has laid before me that I may have overlooked. I so many times get so involved in my own hunt, or my own self focused agenda, that I just flat overlook the potential for God's good pick.

God graciously allows us to make our own choices in life, even though he is ultimately in control of how those choices work to our favor or our detriment. As we become more and more familiar with scripture, we are better able to choose what is best for our lives not just what is convenient for our comforts and desires. When we make choices that will work in tandem with our knowledge and understanding of Christ, even though it may well be off our pallet for self desire, those choices will influence our growth and our maturity. Christian based choices will subtly change us and Christ will transform us according to his will.
Some will be major and effect ones who are around us while other good choices will be a personal growth that effect our perspectives, our desire for truth, and our inner dependence on someone greater than ourselves, Christ.

We have been given a free will, a will to choose which row we will pursue and then the will to pick out the fruits that Christ has planted and ripened for our choosing. We can make the choice to follow what we, in our finite understanding seems to be wise and comfortable and self driven ways, or submit to Christ and his wisdom -filled ways. More times than not our ways are not too conducive to a faithful, righteous Christian lifestyle. Kind of like picking strawberries that are mushy or not yet ripened. They are just not too good.

Our bucket of life has been purchased for us, now we are given free reigns to pick the fruits that will fill it. And as I am writing this, I am reminded that all good fruits come from planting in proper soil and continued nourishment. When we are planted in the word and nourished by a continuous desire to seek Christ and know his way, it is then that the choices we make will distinguish our lifestyle. For our choices will show who we are following, and our pickings will be evidence of the life choices we make.

Matthew 9:9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth.“Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

Dear Lord, Help us to choose your row and pick your fruits. Amen