The Best Is Yet to Come!

It is strawberry time in the South! Depending on the weather, harvest time usually begins in late April and continues well into June.

My hometown in Tennessee, United States, was such a strawberry growing area that during my teen years, the annual Strawberry Festival was begun and included the crowning of a Strawberry Queen. Although that was long ago, I still remember the name of the very first one! My connection to the berries was much more humble—one year, on hot summer days, I picked enough to earn money for shoes that were popular at the time.

Later, when I was in college, the wife of one of the teachers had an accident that made her unable to do her housework. Several of the girls in my section of the dorm volunteered to spend time on Friday afternoons to vacuum, dust, and do other little jobs to help her.

After she recovered, she invited the group to a Sunday waffle brunch, warning us to stop eating before we got too full, as there was a surprise at the end.

When the time came, we were glad we had paid attention! The surprise was crisp waffles topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream! How we enjoyed every bite! My husband, Ted, and I spent many years working at a boarding high school in Candler, North Carolina. One year, one of the graduates was the granddaughter of friends.

We had also known her parents.

We invited the whole family to dinner following graduation.

For dessert, we had pound cake topped with strawberries and whipped cream. We assured them that the berries were local and fresh, but some were doubtful and asked how we could be sure. We were sure because we had gone to the strawberry field the day before to buy them. They were definitely local and fresh! Though that is the very best way to enjoy them, strawberries are shipped in and available year-round, along with many other fruits, including blueberries, grapes, and citrus fruits. But no matter how good all of them are, I believe the fruit from the tree of life in heaven will be the most wonderful fruit of all.

There will be twelve different kinds, and we will never be too full to eat and enjoy every bite!

Mary Jane Graves