One of my fondest childhood memories is going to my maternal grandparents house on a Saturday morning, watching cartoons and enjoying a meal of waffles covered with nanking cherry syrup. Homemade of course, with the cherries picked from my grandparents own yard. I’ve always loved the taste of nanking cherry syrup and have missed it and craved it for well over twenty years now.
My grandparents sold their house back in the early 1990’s, leaving those treasured cherry bushes behind. I suppose my grandma could have still made the syrup, harvesting those bright red berries from some other source, but truthfully she was just plain tired of cooking and baking in her old age. She finally passed away back in 2014 at the ripe old age of 93.
Alas, my hopes of tasting nanking cherry syrup again was gone. Now I loved my grandmother dearly for more reasons than just her culinary skills, but lets face it. No one can make food like grandma can. She was the master. And I had no idea where I could procure nanking cherries anyhow.
My wife and I bought our house almost eighteen years ago. One big selling feature of the property, besides it being something we could actually afford to buy, was its large yard, plentiful trees and bushes. For many years I have noticed that many of my bushes produce red berries. I have always wondered what kind of bushes they are and if the berries are edible or not. I had never tried to eat any for fear that they could be poisonous.
About this time last year we had a gathering of friends in our yard, enjoying food, laughter and silly stories around our fire pit. That year, it had been an unusually rainy spring and summer. Resulting from this, the bushes were drooping with plump red berries. I mentioned in conversation that I had always been curious as to what kind of berries I had growing all over my yard. One of my friends, to my horror, plucked a berry off of a nearby bush and popped it into his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully as I watched in anticipation with my hand reaching for my phone, anticipating a 911 call.
He spit out a pit and announced that it was a nanking cherry bush.
Could it be true? A nanking cherry bush in my very own yard? It was true indeed. I was astonished and overjoyed! That which I had craved for so many years had been in my possession all along. I went looking around my property and discovered much to my delight that I had not just one, but four nanking cherry bushes in my back yard.
All of these years, I had desired the sweet syrup made from these berries, but was deprived of them. For seventeen years I was surrounded by a wealth of nanking cherries, but did not enjoy them. I had not believed. They were always mine, but I could not enjoy the reality of what was mine until I believed in what they were.
The cherries were harvested the very next day, and to my delight, I discovered that my dear wife makes nanking cherry syrup just like grandma did!
1 Peter 1:3 NASBS
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
All that you have craved deep down inside has been in your possession all along. You are forgiven. You are included. You are loved. You belong. It has been done for you without any effort of yours or permission from you. You cannot enjoy it until you believe.
Believe it, enjoy it, live it. It’s yours!
Does my son need to believe in me before I give him something nice? Who actually is responsible for causing someone to come to the point of believe? Who created that aspect of believe? Does God limit himself to how much we believe?
Honest question: Did you read the article? You do not need to believe in order to receive. You already HAVE. You need to believe so that you can enjoy what has always belonged to you.