Lessons from Strawberries

Strawberries are like people. Think of those big red ones you buy in the supermarket that are definitely non-organic and taste like cotton. We all know a few folks like that. And those tiny wild strawberries you find under the trees when you’re walking in some rural spot, and that taste so astonishingly sweet? They’re like chance encounters with wise people in places you’d never expect to find them.

Strawberries

But more than this strawberries – real strawberries – are seasonal. They don’t appear every month of the year. Only those tasteless ones flown in from Brazil hothouses are out on the shelves, rain or snow, complete with a light dusting of pesticides. And real strawberries don’t last that long, even in the fridge. Get them fresh, in season, and eat them as soon as you can because they won’t stay fresh and good. Be grateful for that.

They remind us that what is good is often fugitive. Like laughter, you can’t hold it and save it for another hour, let alone another day. The strawberry beckons to us and says, “Be present, now”. Can you do that?