Spiritual Fruit

Strawberries are my favorite fruit. I even love strawberry plants, for once they preached a powerful sermon to me which I've never forgotten. I was on my hands and knees in my garden pulling weeks, when suddenly I noticed something I had seen hundreds of times before but never caught the lesson. It was the "runners" on the berry plants. From the main vine a number of slender shoots extended like arms in all directions. They were thin, green stems creeping along the ground, being pushed out by that mysterious power in the mother plant. After reaching out about 6 inches, the end penetrated the ground and developed roots. Then the leaves of the new baby plant shot upward. All the while, before the infant plant was able to sustain itself, it received nourishment form the parent through the "runner." When the new growth was fixed in the ground, the "runner" resumed its journey and while this one plant was multiplying, there were several others doing the same thing in different directions. I forgot all about the weeds and saw only that mother plant sending out its runners. This caused me to cry out, "O God, make me like those strawberries, reaching out in an effort to multiply and bring forth fruit."

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From "Our Daily Bread"