New Sheriff

August 24,2022

We have a couple of pear trees, one ten feet tall and, next to it, one that’s twenty feet tall. Every other year they seem to produce abundantly. Last year was not one of those years.

In 2020 we had an amazing crop of pears. The limbs were bowed down with hundreds of pears! We patiently waited for them to ripen.

In the mean time, the squirrels helped themselves to an occasional treat. We hung cans and pie plates from the tree limbs, but it didn’t stop the squirrels. We bought two fake owls to put amongst the branches, with eyes that lit up if motion was detected. We patiently waited for our crop, as I said. Our patience was not rewarded. The squirrels got every one of, as in ALL, our pears.

This year has been another amazing year for our pears. There has been a change, though. There is “a new sheriff in Dodge.”

One of the neighbors has a young cat that loves to hunt squirrels. He even climbs trees.

Our pears have not disappeared nearly as quickly this year. I’ve harvested nearly two hundred so far. I’ve peeled and cored and cooked and made pear sauce (like applesauce, but with pears). God has blessed us with enough to last for a couple years.

How do I repay God for this blessing? I pet the cat. I mean, I thank God when I pray, but sometimes I need to do something physical. So I pet the cat.

I John 4:20 says that if we can’t love those who we can see, how will we love God, whom we cannot see? Makes sense to me. That’s part of the commandment to ”love your neighbor as yourself.” Our love of God is reflected in how we treat our neighbor. Do we thank others? Am I an encourager? Can God see that I love him by how I treat other people?