Tag: fruit

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

A basket of fruit

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Nataliya Melnychuk on Unsplash

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Amos 8.

“This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit” (Amos 8:1).

Old Testament prophets have great object lessons. Amos’s “basket of summer fruit” reminded me of one of my high school youth group’s favorite games, “Fruit basket upset.” (Yeah, this is how we had fun back in the 1900’s.)

We arranged our chairs in a circle, one fewer than the number of youth there. Everyone picked a fruit to identify with, including the person in the middle of the circle who started without a chair. That middle person would then call out two or more of the named fruits. Those fruits would have to exchange chairs, as the person in the middle attempted to steal one of their seats. The person left in the middle without a chair would then shout out fruits.

Every once in a while, the middle person would call out, “fruit basket upset!” which meant everyone had to leave their seat and find another. The ensuing chaos was hilarious.

A basket of summer fruit actually sounds delicious. Imagine strawberries, cherries, and ripe peaches. Add in a few blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, and you’ve got a wonderful bowl of fruit.

Fruit doesn’t last long in the biblical world with no refrigerators. In other words, time’s up. It’s the end of a season, and God’s judgment for a nation that has gone bad with injustice and greed is just around the corner.

There’s an interesting contrast here. Are our lives more like Amos’s summer fruit or the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)? On any given day, it could be either. When our greed gets the best of us, we don’t worry much about the needs of others. When the Spirit moves us, though, we bear the fruit of love, kindness, and goodness, as well as other Godly qualities.

Posted in Food

Back to the blueberry farm

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Today was our annual trip to the blueberry farm. The month of April has flown by and we almost missed our chance to pick buckets of berries to bring home. We didn’t make it to yesterday’s Bostwick Blueberry Festival, but Facebook assured us the bushes were still filled with large, ripe berries. We picked up our two Florida grandsons after church and made the drive out to the farm.

Last year’s picking was good, but since it was later in the season, this year was even better. The clouds kept the temperatures down, Saturday morning’s rain was mostly dried up, so it was a great afternoon to pick.

It’s fun to listen to all the conversations going on as families stand between the rows of bushes, picking blueberries.

  • “Whoa! Look at this one. This is the biggest berry ever!” (I heard that at least a dozen times.)
  • “I’m glad I wore my boots. I stepped right into that mud puddle.”
  • “Don’t pick the green ones. They’re too hard and sour. Only pick the purple ones.”
  • “Marco!” “Polo!”
  • “I’m going to eat all the berries.”
  • “Hey, stop throwing those.”
  • “I heard that someone picked fifty pounds of berries last week.”
  • “This bush is really full of them. You can just stand here and fill your bucket.”
  • “How many have you eaten?”
  • “Watch out; you almost dumped your bucket.”
  • “My bucket is way fuller than yours.”

The farm reported that one picker took home fifty pounds of blueberries one day last week. Our load of ten pounds seemed like a lot. Was it someone who owned a bakery? Or took them home to share with neighbors? Maybe they resold them by the side of the road.

Some friends of ours told us about another blueberry farm that forbid pickers to eat any. Posted signs said it was a federal offense to eat any berries before purchasing them. You won’t see us at that farm. I probably ate a pint while filling my bucket.

The bushes were filled with white and green berries yet to ripen, so the harvest will continue through next week. For now we’ve got all the blueberries we need for pancakes, muffins, scones, smoothies, and maybe some jam.