I was doing some thinking today as I walked around and observed things. Sometimes there are things to be seen if we'll open our eyes. There are lessons to be learned, if we'll listen. Often God educates you outside of the church doors.
Pecan trees are the last trees on our property to bud out in the spring. By this time, all the leaves have fallen. When the kids were younger, I would rake up huge piles of leaves and they would run and jump in the leaves. Such fun! We grow up and stop jumping in leaf piles. Why? As I was thinking about that, my eyes saw something in the garden in the side yard.
What might be a little hard to see is a watermelon plant left over from the spring. It is still living. It is clinging to life with determination. It has a will to live. It will never produce watermelons. Too late for that. It doesn't worry about that. It lives. One day at a time.
What is not hard to see is the Lemon Queen Sunflower left over from the spring. It's bright yellow contrasts mightily against the gloomy gray sky.
It's bloom dispels the gloom, you might say. It lights up the room. In times of darkness and sorrow, that's what we should aspire to do.
A good friend of ours went out foraging for mushrooms and wanted to share some with us. How nice! He gave us three paper bags full of mushrooms. Here is the top of a big cluster of oyster mushrooms that, following the rain, were growing all over a willow tree near the bayou.
Here are the gills on the underside. The oyster mushrooms were heavy and clean and had a woodsy smell. This afternoon Tricia made Rice dressing (Rice, ground meat, green onions, onions and a bunch of seasoning). She quickly sautéed the oyster mushrooms and made an ad lib on the normal recipe. She mixed the mushrooms in with the rice dressing. You know what? It worked! It was delicious. We cleaned our plates.
We've got a bunch left to eat. I always like sautéing them with onions, garlic and heavy cream, but then again shoe leather would taste good, I'm sure, cooked with onions, garlic, and heavy cream. Years back, I would've walked right by these in the woods or I would've kicked them off the tree and destroyed them. Now I know better. There is fresh food growing for free all around us, if we look and learn. Thanks to our friend that shared the oysters with us!
In this world, it is easy to have a "woe is me" mindset, but I trust that things will get better. Oh yeah, you say? "That's a one in a million shot." What are the chances of that? Slim to none? Not so fast, my friend!
My eyes caught a strange sight on the patio. We have a patio table with an expanded metal top. It has those little openings. We have a Laurel Oak tree in the front yard. It has been shedding its leaves and the leaves fly over the roof and fall on the patio. Look at how they fall and lodge themselves in the holes in the table-top.
I don't think I could stand over the table and make that happen if I tried all day. Somehow some of the leaves defied the odds. They didn't end up on the ground like all the other leaves from its tree. No, these leaves achieved the impossible. Who would we want to be like? The leaves in the pile on the ground or the leaves standing tall? Let's stand tall, come what may.
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