Our family went strawberry picking  years ago. It was a beautiful day to be outdoors with the anticipation of picking what we knew would be the largest, reddest, ripest strawberries that we had even seen (or eaten). We did accomplish our goal and were more than satisfied with the fruits of our labor. But we learned fairly quickly that is wasn’t as easy as we thought that it would be. There were plenty of strawberries ready for picking along rows and rows, as far as the eye could see. Some had been found and nibbled by visiting wildlife while others were under or over-ripened, by not enough or too much sun and exposure. But the best ones, the one’s without wrinkle or blemish, weren’t always in plain view. We often had to look deeper and peel back the hearty leaves that covered the rows to find them. And even when we did, they weren’t always bunched together in one spot.

Like picking strawberries, it’s not always easy for us to find the best in each other. Our best can be hidden amidst pain from loss, or anger from hurt, or sadness from depression or even from years of hearing or felling that we had no “best” in us. But with compassionate commitment, and God’s discernment, we can go out into the field with words of encouragement and acts of kindness that will shed God’s loving light upon our shadowy spaces, and bring our best to surface, ripe for picking.

Our strawberries made great strawberry shortcake. Our best, together with God’s love can make wonderful ministry.