Wise Wildlife

When I was growing up we had a giant old walnut tree in our backyard My brothers and I used to go out and pick the unripe walnuts off the tree. We had to get them early or the birds and squirrels would get to them first. So when they were still green we would pull them off the tree. Once we had a nice little cache of walnuts we would tear into them trying to get to the precious center of the nut. We always hoped to find that nut. Most of the time we were picking way too early and we were getting nothing but green fingers for a week. So we began to let them stay longer on the trees, however the wildlife would then get to the nuts before we would. I never understood why they would want that bitter green husk of a nut but they were always gone before they were ripe.

Just the other day I was told that you can pick walnuts when they are green and save them till the green shell starts to come off. Then within is a ripe walnut. Imagine my surprise when I realized that those crafty little critters knew what they were doing. Sometimes we expect to get things in the time that we are looking for them not in the timing that the Lord has for us. "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven" (Ecclesiastes 3:1). If we exercise a bit of patience perhaps the outcome will be to our benefit.

I believe that the Lord knows what he is doing even if it may be hard. If as a child I had merely picked the green nuts and stored them away for a time when they would be ripe, we could have had a barrel of walnuts.