Well Worth the Waiting

Do you remember exactly two years ago my huge gardening mistake?  I put my strawberry plants in the ground, and I bragged about all the glorious berries I'd have that summer.  Remember how the older, wiser folks told me that I had to pinch off every blossom and not, under any circumstances, let that plant produce?

I had to do it.  I had to deliberately destroy even the possibility of fruit.

I wrote this:

This counter-intuitive and destructive move would make my plants thrive.  If I take away the fruit, the plant directs the energy and nutrients to the most important part of the plant: the root system.  A new berry plant needs a few years to make an indestructible foundation of roots.  Then, we can enjoy the fruit. 

Today, two years later , my youngest daughter rushes in from school, and the first thing she grabs is a bowl for harvesting berries.  We have so many that we can't eat them all.  We will begin storing them this weekend.  And they're huge. 

Don't ever let me complain about waiting again.  Don't ever let me tell you that unproductive seasons with no fruit in sight are wasted in God's economy.  Remind me that my roots are going deep, and I'm nourishing my system.  That's the way it has to be if we want any kind of harvest.

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Here we go!  Strawberry pies, strawberry smoothies, strawberry sorbet.  What would you do with a bowl full of strawberries?