Picking
Pecans
There are two huge pecan trees on the property in which
we are living here in South Africa. The
60 acres has many fruit bearing trees: mango, orange, banana, apricot- it is a
beautiful landscape, almost like the perfect fusion of tropical and high elevation
trees living in harmony.
One afternoon I decided to take a walk around the
property to see if I could find all the different kinds of trees. As I strolled through the tall grass, the air
was chilly and wet. Winter has arrived;
thus, the mango and apricot trees are out of season. In my head it is June, which usually sparks
an excitement about the coming season of stone fruits, berries and summer
veggies, but I’m in the southern hemisphere, so June means potatoes, beets, and
squash are plentiful! (I once made a
calendar for a friend based on what food I was most excited about for each
month/season!) I found some bananas
growing under their huge fan like leaves, but they were still very green and
not yet ready for the eating. Despite
the pecan trees being one of the first trees pointed out to us when we moved in
and being told of the buckets of pecans that were gathered; I didn’t see any on
the ground…not a single pecan! I walked
back thinking that my little expedition wasn’t very successful.
A couple days later, I met the guard, Thomas, walking
along the path. We greeted each other and then he reached deep into his pocket
and pulled out a handful of pecans!! I was
so happy; I immediately brought them back to the house and began smashing them
open between my palm and the counter top.
How did he find all of these? I had just been out looking and didn’t find
one…
I peered out the window and took notice of how Thomas
does his round around the property…and it hit me. There was a big difference between his stroll
and my “stroll”. As usual, my leisurely walk
had quite a clip to it. The sun had been
close to setting and it was chilly out, so walking faster meant more
warmth. There always seems to be a
reason that I don’t slow to the pace I should to be observant. This past year at the ranch I received the
Energizer Bunny Award as a joke to remind me of the way I would move about the
kitchen. Interestingly enough, this year
I have found that time crunches are not just in kitchens. All too often my watch runs my life. This is something I have always struggled
with, and I lament to acknowledge that I have most certainly missed a lot along
the way: faces, needs, experiences, conversations.
I decided to give pecan hunting another try. A few days later, I headed out again. The weather had cleared up, the sun was high
in the sky and I was certain I would find some pecans. I was deliberate in my path, my speed, and my
focus. Once under the tree I even
stopped in order to focus on about a 3 foot radius around me. I stood there staring at the ground around me…when
I spotted one! And then another! Hallelujah!! It was amazing how much those little shells
blended right into to the bricks of the walkway. There was no way that in simply passing by
one would be able to distinguish the difference. It took me stopping, focusing and making that
my priority in order for me to truly see the pecans. I stuffed my pockets with excitement at my victory!
Here comes the obvious moral of the story: Yep, stop and smell the roses J Even life as a missionary gets busy. We have schedules and times we need to be
places…and soon it just becomes a blur.
For me, I MUST take advantage of the times when I can stroll like
Thomas. For most of us those times are few and far between, but we must begin to recognize when the Lord gives us those opportunities. Heidi Baker, the founder of Iris
ministries, bases her entire ministry on focusing on the one in front of
her. She says if you look at the crowd
or think about how much there is to do…you will most certainly get
overwhelmed. But if you focus on the one
in front of you and ask yourself, “what can I do today for this one?”…then you
actually see that one. You see their
face, you listen to their needs, and you make them the priority for however long
you have to focus on them. It is the only way to reach the masses; one at a time.
So when we go to help at the preschool and there are 30
kids running and screaming in the play yard…I try to focus on the one that
decides to take a break and sit in my lap.
Or when we go to a church under a tent with close to 100 people, whoever
sits down next to me is the one I have the conversation with and we sing our
hearts out to the Lord together. There
will always be needs that overwhelm and hearts that just need a listening ear…I
guess the question to all of us is: who is the one we will stop for today?
