Frozen Blueberries

February 2 is "Chandeleur" as French Catholics call it, or "The Presentation of Christ in the Temple" as Anglicans have named this feast day, which celebrates the event recorded in Luke 2 when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple - some history from wikipedia. Simeon, who was promised that he'd not die before seeing the messiah, was in the temple, and when he saw Jesus he prayed to God in thanksgiving for having beheld the one who would redeem the world. My friend tells me that the French celebrate this day by eating crèpes, so tonight (2 days late), she's inviting some friends over to eat crèpes. My assigned ingredient is blueberries. I have a big bag of them in my freezer that I picked last spring from the farm where my brother-in-law works. We'll heat them on the stove with some sugar, butter, and flour to make a sauce, and wrap them inside the crèpes to eat. Can't wait!

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My brother-in-law manages a large blueberry farm west of Gainesville. He and my sister also began a small farm of their own about three years ago, and they are one month away from their first harvest. Three years ago I got to help them take cuttings and plant them in a greenhouse they'd built, the next year they were planted in a nursery, and last Christmas our families helped transplant them into the five acre field where they are now beginning to fruit. Tonight, however, the fruit of their 3 years labor and investment are expected to be wiped out by a freeze.

Transplanting blueberry plants from the nursery into the field (Christmas 2007)

As I sit in my office I can hear the phone calls of growers calling to get advice from the blueberry expert whose office neighbors mine. Farmers in this area typically use overhead irrigation to protect their plants from such freezes - the constant running of water on the plants keeps the plant tissue from dropping below the temperature of freezing, and protects the flower buds and developing fruit from being destroyed. My brother-in-law has already spent many nights awake this winter - watching the weather from his truck to be ready to turn on the water if temperatures drop to low. This method has protected the plants several times already this winter when it has dropped below freezing at night. The next morning is quite a miracle to behold! - a winter wonderland of icicles dripping off of the uninjured berries. This form of protection, however, is rendered useless on such a cold and windy night as is predicted for tonight.

overhead irrigation providing a protective layer of ice on a field of blueberry bushes

When I talked with my sister on the phone this morning, she asked me to pray that the weather would not destroy their berries. I thought (to myself), "What's the point? Our prayers are not going to change God's mind or the weather." But who am I to say what God will do?!? My sister told me that she felt like the fear of bad weather was good in that it was causing her to pray more often. I thought (to myself again), "yeah, she's right, that's what prayer is really for, changing us (not God), and becoming ok with whatever He chooses to do." I told my sister that there's no point in worrying about tonight's weather b/c there's nothing she could do about it, that whatever happened would be God's will, and though it might make life a lot harder to lose their crop this year, it would ultimately be for the best. It was so easy for me to say.

I believe all that, but it was kind of a rotten thing to say. Kind of like Job's annoying friends - giving their wisdom when he just wanted some sympathy. Rather I should have been silent, listened to her contentions, and gotten down on my hands and knees to speak to the Almighty and argue with God on her behalf (Job 13). Yes, it is good to encourage and speak truth to one another, but it is also good to empathize, and to be honest about our fears before God.

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Job 13:3-6
But I would speak to the Almighty,
And I desire to argue with God.
But you smear with lies;
You are all worthless physicians.
O that you would be completely silent,
And that it would become your wisdom!
Please hear my argument
And listen to the contentions of my lips.