In Missouri, May and June are the best months for perfect strawberries. You know the one’s I’m talking about: the in-season, brilliant red, juicy sweet ones. The ones that make you think “this is what summer tastes like”, with each glorious bite!

     So here I am grocery shopping (my least favorite activity) when the produce section, full of strawberries, catches my eye, beckoning me to bring home a quart…or two.  As I glance over the large array of sweet red berries, I have so many different containers to choose from. I pick up various ones, inspecting the strawberries carefully. I check to make sure that as far as I can tell, they all exhibit the perfect amount of ripeness with not a moldy one in sight. I find the “perfect” container and eagerly bring it home and place them in the fridge.

     You see, I have big plans for these strawberries. It is my daughter’s 15^th birthday this upcoming weekend and I am going to make homemade crepes for her. Crepes are a special treat in our household, mainly because it takes forever to make a batch big enough for everyone to enjoy a few. They are a labor of love as I individually pan-fry each paper thin breakfast delicacy. Once they are cooked to perfection, each crepe gets a heaping spoonful of freshly cut strawberries rolled into its center and then doused with snowy powdered sugar. Delightful!

     However, much to my dismay as I start to prepare the strawberries for our celebratory dish, I discover numerous MOLDY strawberries, buried in the center of container! I end up having to throw away a sizable amount as the bad fruit has started contaminating the berries closest to them. Don’t worry, we still had crepes, but it also got me thinking.

     As a wife/mother/husband/father/friend/coworker (pick the appropriate title) have you ever noticed how your attitude is contagious? As a mother I have become acutely aware that my attitude affects my entire household. If I am in a good mood, exhibiting kindness, patience, and love towards my children and husband, they will reciprocate those qualities. If I allow myself to be grumpy, short-tempered, and irritable, I quickly witness my family’s attitudes deteriorate to match mine. Bad attitudes are like moldy strawberries. It just takes one spore, one hateful comment, harsh word, or impatient demand to contaminate the attitudes of those around us.

     All throughout the Bible, we are reminded over and over again, to bear with one another in love.  If God felt the need to mention this concept numerous times, then clearly you and I are not the only ones who struggle with negativity. So next time, you feel impatience welling up inside of you, pray that the Lord will renew in you a spirit of gentleness and humility. Don’t be a moldy strawberry!

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.  James 1:19