Saturday, December 3, 2022
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Strawberries in December
In the car Mike and I squeezed into the back seat. Miles and Jasper were in the middle. Diane drove, and Margaret kept her company. We piled a bunch of lawn chairs and snacks in the back and headed to Marble Falls for pie, a parade, and a walkway of lights.
What a fine day we had, walking and talking and praising God. Stories from past decades of our lives. Sand art for Miles and Jasper at Sweet Berry Farm, which is open for one last weekend because big beautiful strawberries are ripening on hundreds of vines. The sign offers strawberries in March, April and May. This year, add December. When we began walking the rows it was 74 degrees.
And yes, they really did look just like this. On December 2. And they tasted even better.
We ate lunch at the Blue Bonnet Café, open since 1929. It’s nearly world famous for its pie, and there is usually a line out the door. We stopped in at 3 pm, and only had to wait 20 minutes. Around the table we had cherry, coconut cream, apple, lemon meringue and chocolate meringue pie. Jasper had the chocolate meringue, which was taller than his face.
We found a perfect spot for our lawn chairs and waited for the parade. Marble Falls is kind of a small town, and the parade reflected that perfectly. One high school band, several floats full of cheerleaders, and an older white haired Baptist lady in a red dress reading stories to the kiddos on the float. “Christmas on Noah’s Ark” the float was called.
Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few. So ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
A black bulk water truck was all decked out in lights. Two firemen hollered out “Merry Christmas” from the ladder truck’s gondola. And a whole bunch of teenagers walked along the floats handing out handfuls of candy to every kid along the street.  Miles and Jasper filled their plastic bags almost to the top.
The light of the moon will be like that of the sun and the light of the sun will be seven times greater like the light of seven days.
Mike and I looked up at the moon and a bright star not far from the half full moon. He pointed his phone at the sky and said, “That’s Jupiter.” An app called Skyview told him all we wanted to know. Above Jupiter were stars that made up the constellation Pisces. Seeing the stars so clearly felt right in December, in winter weather, although at 6 pm the temp was 70 degrees.
No longer will your Teacher hide himself, but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher, while from behind a voice shall sound in your ears: “This is the way, walk in it.”
Austin’s Trail of Lights starts soon. Marble Falls’ Walkway of Lights has been open for a couple of weeks. Fancy fire trucks and Santa’s sleigh and an airplane and the North Pole Express, and lots more. We walked along the Colorado River and stared at one creation after another. Then we drove the hour home through the dark, back to the too bright lights of Austin. Happy to be celebrating Christmas.
(Isaiah 30, Psalm 147, Isaiah 33, Matthew 9)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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