I love cherries!  When I was a kid I picked them as a summer job 2 years in a row.  I’m sure I ate as many as I put in the basket.  I really wasn’t very good at my job …

It’s actually a pretty good analogy … life being a bowl of cherries.  On the outside, cherries are beautiful.  Deep red, plump and shiny.  But inside there is a pit … hard as stone.  Just like life.

We go along on our way and things are rosy and sweet … then we hit a rock.  If we are not careful and we hit that rock hard enough things can crack or break.  But hidden inside that rock is life.  That’s where a new tree is hiding, waiting to be planted and nurtured until it produces its own sweet cherries.

It’s the hard things we have to deal with in our lives that teach us the most … stretch us … make us think.

So … the next time you sit down with a bowl of cherries, don’t just spit the pits out.  Think about what those hard things in your life have taught you about yourself … and give thanks.

Enjoy!