Strawberries

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 weeds, 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 extend like arms in all directions. They are 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 penetrates the ground and developes roots. Then the leaves of the new baby plant shoot upward. All the while, before the infant plant is able to sustain itself, it receives nourishment from the parent through the “runner.”  When the new growth is fixed in the ground, the “runner” resumes its journey and reaches out another 6 inches, still nourished by the original clump of berries. Then the process is repeated. And while one plant is multiplying, there are 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 a effort to multiply and bring forth fruit.”