The Strawberry Chapter 30

The Strawberry Chapter 30

By Katherine Aguilar

This chapter will be about one trinket I kept getting from different people throughout my life: clarity. I desire to learn more about my faith to understand my purpose in this world, for we were all placed here for a reason, not just to exist. I picked up multiple trinkets of clarity and understanding. In finding clarity.

I know for sure I am to write and read. Everything else will fall into place in due time. I woke up ready for work after what I thought was a sound sleep, only to feel drained. I write this to share a trinket, as much as we think we are in control of our lives as humans. That is the key; we are only humans. What we do today could affect others' lives tomorrow. We can stand strong many a day when we finally realize our strength was not your doing all along. It was your faith holding you all along. As humans, we can only stand so long on our own. Keeping the trinkets of seeking clarity, meditating, and finding understanding.

Meditate on finding understanding. My brain does not get the norm of the answer it may suppose it to be.

During the times of struggle in your life, you need to stand with your faith and hold on to what you know. If you do not know the answer, you do not know how to answer. Seek the Kingdom of God. Don’t be afraid to look. If you do not look, you will never know. I am constantly seeking, and at times, still, clues come my way, and I miss them altogether, or I understand them completely wrong. I am not struggling with how to make something out of the mess I made.

The trinket of looking. Look deep inside yourself. Don’t be afraid to ask if it doesn’t sound right; find someone else. Not till you feel like you've gotten an answer that makes sense. So that you finally understand what it means or what you are to do. Meditate and seek. Always reach into your heart. You are created in love; see where the original love started. It's not just an egg in your mother's womb. You were much more important. You are a piece of the puzzle of life. To make a play a role in others' lives. To reach into the hearts and minds of others who may not have even had a chance to be heard or even thought of by others.

The woman

This story was a few years back. It was a cool summer morning. The sun was out the birds were chirping away. At times, I feel I can hear the birds talk, and at times, I do believe they do chirp pretty clearly. I put on my tennis shoes to jog to the park down the street. I had taken up jogging and was enjoying myself. Before each jog, I would jog and then walk a brisk lap. It was as I was coming back around to finish my brisk lap. I saw a heavy-set woman, she hit her knees to the ground, and she cried out a silent cry as if the pain she was feeling inside was so loud it could not reach the depths of what she wanted. I knew it was a deep spiritual moment she was having, as if she were wanting. She cries out. She was reaching to Heaven for an answer. I had slowed my pace as I saw this. I felt it in my heart to go reach out to this woman. She said, “ I have so much pain in my heart, my family is broken. I have wronged so many.” I am not sure she shared. I listened to her about everything she seemed to have pent up about the pains she had caused others and the pain her family had caused many. She wanted God to forgive her for her sins. She wants a chance to make it right. When she finished. I hugged the woman and told her God loved her. I told a story about a tree pruner who checks the tree to see if there is enough soil, what the tree needs, and if it is watered. When I was finished, I asked her how her tree was. She said her tree was bad.

Is there at least one branch that was helpful in lifting the family? She said she wanted a chance to try. I said, go and see if you can produce a fresh branch by digging and putting fresh soil. It will take some work; you can not sprinkle and go. You need to dig deep, deep inside, and keep adding fresh soil to the ground around her tree. She understood. She was the tree. She needed to work really hard to get a fresh branch from a tree that had been pruned incorrectly. I told her when she thought she was done digging to keep digging till the day she died. She needed to dig so hard. If not, she need not ask what will happen to her tree. I said we all have to dig in our soil. We need to be able to produce to make the world beautiful and be grateful for what we have been given. It gave her some hope. She left feeling better and felt that God did love her. She left screaming! I am going to get digging and add fresh soil.

Beauty

Taking time to enjoy the beauty that we have in front of us. This morning, I was on my way to work. I actually had to pull over because the sunrise was so beautiful. I pulled into a private park. I got out of the car and watched the sunrise for five minutes. As I was watching, a lawn service company pulled up, and he was about to start cutting grass. He was smoking a cigarette first. I started talking to the man. I asked him, “ Do you see the beauty that God gave us this morning? It told him to stop and look. He looked. He says it is beautiful. I asked him his name. He said it was Oscar. I said it was as if God were saying, "Hello, Oscar." He looked at the sunrise a little more and smiled. I told him to take a few minutes in the morning to enjoy the sunrise and say good morning to God. Take time to enjoy the mornings, sunsets, and your surroundings. We get so caught up in the everyday routine that we miss the beauty around us.

Trinkets

With the combination of trinkets. Or the frequency of mentioning. It may have diluted what I meant to say in The Strawberry; it is with this in mind. I take to redefine it on how I am using the word in the story of the Strawberry. The trinkets are the results of seeds that were planted in me by others. Those are words of advice, the Bible, and actions that worked. Most of the trinkets are of faith. Still, there are some bad trinkets. Put in by others: doubt, laziness, confusion, anger, bitterness, frustration, depression, and sadness, which have been placed in the trinket box over the years. Many other bad trinkets have been placed in the trinket box. The good trinkets I received from the Bible, from mentors of faith, and from my upbringing in faith. Which helped me hold steady during the time the bad trinkets may have been starting to take hold of my life. I pick up the bible and look for the answer on how to help myself. Many times I have opened the bible and not understood what it said. I started with reading Proverbs, for they are very clear. To understand. As I write The Strawberry now. The removal of the bad from the trinket box. Has opened a new world of emotions and strength in my faith. Which is healing my doubting spirit in the power of God.

There are people in which will grow angry with you because of your believe it is in you belief that you still stand on this earth today. The Power of God is real. What you do today and leave behind when you die will be a reflection of your faith.

Hold on to your faith, and all the bad seeds will fall away.

Meeting good, healthy-minded people who are willing to pray, teach, and see the potential in you that others may not have seen in you. Letting you know: making a difference in this world is one step at a time, and as you progress in your life, your steps multiply as you share what you have learned in your faith with others. Soon, more people will live by faith, not by sight. That through all hardships in their life. They know if they stay grounded, they can weather the storm.

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I read part of the scripture. Faith without actions. It's like a worthless salt, it is tasteless and ruins. These thoughts have come to mind as I removed the bad trinkets and threw them in the trash. I have had time to reflect on what actions I haven’t taken that would help me live by my faith rather than just say I have faith. I thought of an event that happened about this time last year. Which, as I read it, made me realize it was meaningful not just for the person I was talking with, but also to me. I only have it as a testimony. It puts it in perspective. At the same time, an action may have been small. It held far greater value than something grand. Whatever is done for others is living the Bible, not just reading and learning the scriptures. It is in living that we truly believe and grow.