Natural Medicine

Wednesday was rough. Kids were squabbling. The two year old was taking mischief to new heights. One child was so resistant to being taught, insisting she could just do it by herself. The baby was only happy in my arms (which makes it very difficult to handle the mischief from the two year old). It was so rough that when Dave called in the early afternoon as we got ready for lunch, the second he heard my voice he advised me to get out of the house, even if all I did was return books to the library. I'll be honest, I was dreaming of "running away" right at that moment, but felt incredible guilt. I kept asking God to just give me what I needed to pull through, instead He spoke clearly through my husband. I decided to take a quick trip trip to World Market to start collecting items for our Africa continents box. I held the baby and wandered through the quiet store for half an hour and returned home. I felt better and we made it through the day. But really it was a band-aid.

All week I was just waiting to get out to the mountains, to our favorite farm. I hoped a field full of luscious strawberries were waiting to be picked. I knew the weather was threatening to crush my plans. I didn't care. I told my friend that unless a torrential downpour was coming down, we would be picking strawberries. I asked Carmen to pray for the rain to hold back until we were done. Carmen has this deal with God about weather. I think it is because she prays with incredible expectant faith that God hears her little girls pleas for clear skies and gladly obliges. Yesterday morning the skies were dark and threatening. We got in the car anyway. As we drove out to the mountains it didn't look any better. In fact we could see the clouds falling down the mountains. But it wasn't raining, so I drove on. We got to the farm and was elated to hear from the farmer, plenty of strawberries to be picked. It wasn't raining. I phoned Elizabeth who was on her way. Plenty of strawberries, no rain, this could work.

It did. As children quickly scattered among the rows of strawberries and I set to work, crouching near the ground, moving leaves aside to find brights red stores of sweet treasure, I felt all
the aches and weariness lift away, almost as if it is was easier to give them over to the Father in Heaven being closer to Him on the mountain. I would stand up and take in the view, the wide open space, clean air and quiet and felt my heart beat stronger. I marveled at the fact that given a natural space, children can keep themselves happy and healthy for quite some time. I chatted with a friend as we nursed the little babies we tend to worry so much about and didn't worry about my little baby at all.

And the strawberries? So delicious. The rest of the day was given over to eating and cooking the fruits of our labor. And there is the promise of more to come. Only 17 days until the cherries are ready and soon after, the blueberries.

Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth; break into song; sing praise.