My husband has offered to cut the cherry tree down. Several times.
I was thrilled when the tree offered a bountiful harvest of cherries, sweet with a little tartness.
Then came the year of brown rot and mold. We spent a week picking all the rotten fruit and cleaning up the mess.
Another year a late snowfall came while the tree was in blossom. There were no cherries that year.
Over the past few years Japanese beetles have discovered the tree. They eat the leaves on the tree, weakening it. So I tried picking them off, dropping them in a bucket of soapy water, as some fell down my shirt. Last year I treated the tree with neem oil.
This year is a recovery year, but the robins honed in on the ripening fruit. I have to admire their zealous pursuit of the cherries. I hung a couple of garden shop owls in the tree and also shiny CDs.
The cherries were of such great worth to the robins that they played out a dramatic scene. I can see the tree—it is just outside my kitchen window.
The robins showed acrobatic moves, twisting their necks to reach a cheery hanging below a branch. They would fly in with a focus on a cherry, see an owl and flutter like a hummingbird. Then they would seize a cherry and speed away.
I picked a quart of cherries. The robins consumed the rest. I have been thinking about the focus and determination of the robins (and also my determined attempts to save the cherry tree lol). What are the things of great value, deserving my focus? //
During this time at home I have pulled some books off the shelf that had intimidated me by their length. Currently I am reading Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and changed the World by Eric Metaxas.
Martin Luther was totally focused on understanding the Bible, learning the true meaning. He pursued faith in God with his whole heart. Luther demonstrated in his life the most worthwhile goal—an example for us to follow. The greatest treasure in our lives is a relationship with God through Jesus.
This post is linked with the Five Minute Friday writing community. Today’s prompt is: WORTH
As a Lutheran, I know my Martin Luther history.
It is interesting to me, to see how the emergence of the printing press was able to get Martin Luther’s essays and booklet outs across Germany, creating a movement. Because of the popularity of his message (and protection afforded by Frederick the Wise) he was not burned at the stake despite being labeled a heretic.
Wow you have given your tree so much tender loving care! You can tell it and the cherries it produces has great value to you! love this!
Martin Luther was a great man and we can still learn from him today. Love cherries btw 😊 God bless -fmf neighbour