Falling off the Wagon

(Ok, this isn't really a story about *me* falling off the wagon.... but you'll love my story! =) )

You'll never guess what happened today! I was bringing the kids home from school on a small country back road, following a flatbed trailer full of peaches in boxes, and being pulled by a tractor when two of the boxes fell off the wagon (thus the title, see?!). The guy driving stopped and the guy on the back of the trailer with the peaches got off and took a look at the casualties. He must have decided that they were worthless after hitting the pavement like that, and he went back to the trailer. I caught his eye and I motioned toward the peaches and back to myself, asking if I could salvage some for myself. He waved and I took that as a yes. I gathered up an entire bushel sized box full of peaches from the side of the road! Some were beyond hope, being splattered upon the ground, but most were just bruised and very dirty.



So, I got an entire bushel of peaches for being at the right place at the right time (for me, I feel sorry for the farmer who lost part of his crop). It was a $30 value before any were damaged, and I will be able to salvage at least half of the box. I am so thankful! It will save my family money and give me the peaches I had desired to put up for the winter.

It's funny, I had told Emily today that I wished that one of our neighbors would offer us peaches off of their tree simply because they couldn't use them all and didn't want to see them go to waste (like we have in the past with our apricot tree). It seems like that sort of happened.

It is nice to know that the Lord is listening. (For clarification purposes: I am in no way saying that the Lord caused the box to tip off of the trailer, but that perhaps he knew that was going to happen and let me be in the right place at the right time.)

And I hope that by my picking up those peaches and using them in spite of their imperfections, rather than letting a heap of partially good peaches rot by the side of the road, that farmer felt a little better about his loss.

I hope that you saw the blessings that the Lord put in your path today too.