The Greatest Reward

Life has many rewards. Depending upon your perspective, your focus for rewards can be quite different from the person next to you. Since I enjoy gardening I am thinking of the rewards that go along with this universal hobby. Although it could be an avocation, or vocation. For me it is good exercise and experimentation with seeds and plants.

I was greatly rewarded this morning when I went to my tall, healthy, productive Navaho thorn less blackberry bush. The berries are bigger and fatter then the biggest thumb. When they are completely black and shiny they are ready for picking. If the berry comes off easily with the tenderest pull, then you know it is at it's peak of ripeness. There is nothing quite as tasty as a bowl of these berries with a tad of sugar sprinkled over them. Adding cold milk is like icing on the cake.

Like most rewards it started with preparation. Three of the men in my life dug, tilled, amended and fertilized the soil until it was friable and ready for planting. Thanks, to Jim, Bruce and Reed this bed for blackberries was properly ready to receive the healthy plants I put in the ground. That was only last year. Not long at all to wait for the sweet reward.

I am thinking of all of the parents who are sending their children off to college this fall. These parents worked years in the garden of parenting to guide, direct, correct, affirm and cultivate their children. Now, their children are ready to step forward into a new experience of living away from home and being on their own. There will still be parental ties to be sure. But seeing these young people go forth with the best preparation their parents could give them, is the greatest reward of all.

Not all parents will be able to savor this kind of reward. For those who can, it is sweet indeed. It is well worth the time, effort , money and sacrifice invested in their upbringing. For all parents who are sending their children off to studies in a different environment, we applaud what you have done. We know it has not been easy, but we also know it has been well worth it all. You surely have the very greatest reward possible.

Rainy Days and Serious Thoughts

Last week-end I spent with my daughter in Virginia, Abingdon to be exact. We were there to say good-bye to a life well spent. Being with family and renewing our connections with cousins was an uplifting and affirming experience.

Learning things we had not known before about a family member is thought provoking. My thoughts are now reflecting on the life of one who did not waste his potential. Young people do not understand this, usually. They are busy learning the various approaches to living their life, being educated, developing talents, sharing time with others of like mind. The reflection on how a life has already been lived comes much later after years of observation.

How sad it is to see a life full of potential thrown away on frivolous pursuits. How does this happen? Probably the reasons are legion. It occurs to me that a life needs nurturing just as a garden needs nurturing. That may be why those of us who had a heavy dose of parental guidance and supervision feel more satisfied with our situations and are free to enjoy our later years in contentment.

I have learned that neglect in the garden rarely causes a good crop to appear. Some seeds may still come forth and produce beyond expectations. While others not expected to be spectacular , truly are. That could be compared to people and how they develop and thrive in a competitive world of wild weeds. As God has planned for good in all mankind how can it be that some do not live up to His expectations.

These thoughts come to me on a rainy day. When the sun is out it is easy to be cheerful and physically active, but when storm clouds gather whether in reality or in life's living it causes introspection, in me at least.

It must be a pleasure for God to see his seeds grow and develop and become what he had in mind. A life well lived, well balanced, which leaves behind inspiring memories is all which can be expected, don't you agree? I think God is well pleased with the life we gathered to honor last week, the life of my younger brother.