I Will Make You Fisher's of Men

Beautiful Sunny Saturday. But I do enjoy an afternoon rain shower every now and then to give the flowers and trees a little drink and dampen the dusty roads. "I will make you fisher's of men"...Words of Jesus that changed for me this morning as I became a fisher of 'avocados". Matt, one of our long-term missionaries, made an "avocado catcher" with 3 long paint brush extender rods all attached with duct tape (love the stuff...) and the bottom part of a liter bottle of soda....plus more duct tape, and walla! An avocado catcher. There's a method to yanking avocados off the tree without causing it to 'jump' out of the catcher and rolling down the hill. Unfortunately, the majority of our land is hillside and so I had to go a hunting quite a few times. I was reminded of one of those sports fishermen shows where the guy is on a boat with a huge fishing rod trying to pull in a big marlin. That's about what I looked like trying to snag a big avocado high above my head. Tough....just plain tough. But I proceeded to reel in a quite a few and then called it a day. Unlike fishing which you have the reward of a meal afterwards, we must wait a week or so for the avocados to soften. But my hope is to try some of the recipes in an avocado recipe book given to me from some good friends. All things avocado. Soups, salads, deserts, jewelry, cosmetics.....it's amazing what you can do with this fruit. I'm not that crazy about avocados (the texture bothers me, like eating butter), but Allie, our German Shepherd, loves them. She runs with them in the grass, tossing them for awhile before she proceeds to devour them with great gusto. Then she has the pit in which to entertain herself with. This morning she ran with me around the milpa (cornfields). This dog actually does not run, she gallops like a horse. We had a few close encounters as she grazes by me, on her way to the next thing. I found myself just laughing and enjoying the scene. She is a picture of unfettered joy.
And so life on the farm can be full of simple joys. Like 'catching avocados', galloping with Allie around the cornfields, eating a sweet lemon off one of our fruit trees, hanging laundry out to dry in the fresh morning air, hearing our 3 yr. old, Mishel, chatter about what? We can't figure it out!
These are the things that I remind myself daily to be present to. As a good friend once said "Today is a gift, that is why it is called "The present"........Stay in the present.