Black Bear-y Pie!

We returned to Virginia from Florida late in the day on July 4th.

We had emptied my mother-in-law’s house, after its unexpected contract for sale came just twelve hours after the house went on the market. She had been gone for six years. We had memorialized my sister-in-law’s life, after her unexpected passing. She had been gone for ten days.

Rites of Passage. Flooding us with precious — priceless — memories, wrapped in tears… and, thankfully, even some grief-relieving laughter. The end of one era. The beginning of another.

Because Life goes on… doesn’t it, Lord?

We were reminded of this when we returned to our unkempt yard. It had become an overgrown jungle, thanks to the rain that fell frequently during our two-week absence. The rain that kept falling for two days after our return. Finally, the clouds parted, the sun dried the terrain, and we began The Restoration.

Two days of back-breaking mowing, weeding, trimming, pruning… plus the back-breaking work of picking it all up and throwing it into the ravine that borders our ten-acre property. Two long, exhausting, two-aspirin days.

🙂

We saw no signs of our Problem Bear when we returned. Our bird feeder — now perched atop a twelve-foot steel pole — was undisturbed. And our hummingbird feeder — the replacement for the one the bear had bitten in two — hung in its place, awaiting a refill. We had breathed a sign of relief, thinking the bear had finally moved on.

We were wrong.

We found the proof as we pruned both sides of our quarter-mile driveway… and found half of our wild blackberries GONE! Plus his nearby droppings, laden with telltale blackberry seeds.

Funny, though. This discovery didn’t bother me. He had been eating those blackberries long before we had come on the scene. How could I blame him? They are DELICIOUS!

So I decided to join him. I picked a whole bowlful… tasting a few right off the bushes, even as their thorns aggressively tried to dissuade me. OUCH! It was a sweet discovery, after all that hard, prickly work. And our yard does look beautiful…

Isn’t that how it is with Life sometimes, Lord?

Sweet discoveries hidden among thorns? Back-breaking work yielding wonder-full Beauty — inside and out? Pain followed by Gain? Physical Hardships yielding Spiritual Harvests? When even the darkest of clouds give way to the Sonshine?

Because Life goes on… doesn’t it, Lord?

Tonight’s reward? Black Bear-y Pie. Sharing the wealth. I can hardly wait to taste the first bite!

Joyfully,

Abba’s Girl

 

 

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