Deep-seeded need
Tuesday March 25th 2014, 10:44 pm
Filed under: Food,Life,My Garden

I looked all over that little cherry tree yesterday for any sign of future blooming and found nothing but leaves anywhere.

And yet today, after a little bit of rain…well there you go now.

Meantime, I pulled the big Costco clamshell of red seedless grapes out of the fridge to make pink orange juice with: rinse a big handful and throw them in the blender with the fresh-squeezed. Bananas and mango juice add-ins optional.

The grapes, imported from Chile, had faint waves of the very slightest dust across their curves, as if they had been rinsed in the field but not quite enough. There is never any question that I’ll wash them too and definitely say a prayer over my food, but, somehow the unexpected sight instantly connected me to people far, far away from me.

Walking down the rows in a vineyard. Cutting the clusters off, putting them in wooden crates perhaps, again and again, hard work in the sun, never getting to meet the people they would be feeding by their labors. Do they ever wonder about us?

I suddenly felt duty-bound to them not to waste a one. Here, have a smoothie with me, I’ve got another two pounds to use up this week and I don’t want to let a single grape go bad. Oh wait–I could freeze them like ice cubes–there you go.

And rather than just asking a quick half-thought blessing on my lunch, I found myself thanking Above for those individuals and asking Him to take good care of them, whoever and wherever they were out there. I don’t know them, but He does.

And I found myself profoundly grateful that they do what they do.


2 Comments so far
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I love the imagery of saying a special prayer of thanks with every grape you pop into your mouth! It reminds me of the prayers that go into the stitches of a shawl knit for someone with a special need for that prayer. Thank you, Lord, for your sweet and juicy provision, and for the hands and hearts that brought it to me… 🙂

Comment by Pam 03.26.14 @ 7:23 am

And by not wasting a grape, not only do you show appreciation for the person who picked it, but also for the person who built the truck that carried the crate, the person who drilled for the oil that made the fuel, the environment out of which they drew the materials for these things, and for the water used to grow that grape, and none of them were wasted. It is a win-win-win-win-win-… story.

Comment by twinsetellen 03.27.14 @ 2:21 pm



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