For the Love of Mulberries

Every July growing up we would take frequent outings to "The Mulberry Tree". It would happen in those moments of down time when one of us youngsters would be getting bored, and someone would announce the novel idea: "Let's go to the mulberry tree!" So we'd make the 1 block trek to the only one we knew, "our" mulberry tree, eat as many berries as we could reach, and trek back home. Thrilling, I know, but this is why I have always loved mulberries.

The other day I invited some friends over to make jam. What they didn't realize was that I was planning to make mulberry jam.... and that this entailed foraging on their hands and knees to find the precious berries that had fallen from the tree. After one tree of picking through the grass like so many monkeys on a giant head, we had only a minuscule amount of berries and a large amount of berry stains covering our legs. I excitedly announced that, don't worry, I had 4 more mulberry trees scoped out! We should be able to find plenty of berries! One look at my companions told me they'd had enough of this nonsense, so home we went to substitute some other berries for the missing mulberries, and at the end of the jamming process had only 4 small jars of jam to show for the whole ordeal.

A waste of time? Perhaps. But I think there's something to be said for making use of what we have or can find around us, even if it might not be so efficient. If the things we did or had took a little more time, creativity, effort... perhaps we would value them more (and, in my opinion, value life more... have a deeper understanding of what it means to be part of the world around us, to exist within the ebb and flow of scarcity and plenty, and realize that maybe all the things we need aren't meant to miraculously appear in Targets so that we can access them easily get on with our busy lives......)?

Chasing Fireflies

I love how children everywhere are just that – they are children. They want to talk about their favorite things, eat cake, and chase after lightning bugs. They can't help but be curious about other people and the world around them. If only we could all dig that inner child up from inside of our suppressed souls! I think when Jesus talked about the millstone he was speaking to anyone who dared to discourage that childlike spirit. It is from children we learn what is meaningful in this world: fireflies, dancing, and dandelions.

"That which is essential is invisible to the eye." -- The Little Prince