Raspberries After the Storm

"Rain, rain,
Rattle pane."

So said the old Irish shopkeeper when we bought a kettle from her shop one wet summer's day in Co Roscommon. And indeed, during the storms in my home country, South Africa, the rain, accompanied by lightning and thunder, does rattle panes, and drums on the roof with so much force that we cannot hear the TV.

But this was not the case when Storm Clodagh recently passed over my sister's house in County Carlow. We watched the wind whip trees into a frenzied dance in the rain, but the double glazed windows and the thick insulation muffled the sound of the wind to a barely audible murmur. The central heating kept us snug and warm. The wind and rain did not disturb our sleep that night. In the first light next morning we saw that huge bare branches, ripped from a sturdy ash tree  in the back garden, lay strewn on the ground.

The fallen branches had narrowly missed the autumn raspberry canes growing nearby. They stood proud and tall, bedecked with fruit jewels glowing  in the morning sun, beckoning hungry blackbirds.

I couldn't resist eating a few raspberries.They were delicious! Tasty reminders that even though terrible life storms have lashed me during the last few years, I can cling to God and He will never fail me. I will survive by his grace and will not be not be destroyed. He will enable me to bear friut for Him