Walnuts for the Squirrels

            As I walked the dirt path through the woods, I heard a soft “plop”. About a foot in front of me, a walnut had dropped from a nearby tree. Just a few feet farther down the path, I saw dozens of walnuts littering the trail. I wondered how long it would be before the squirrels would come out of hiding and capture these nuts for their winter storage. I could picture them scurrying about, grabbing the nuts from the ground, and running along the tree branches, capturing more nuts before scampering to their homes to store their food. God has indeed provided the squirrels with a bounty of food for the winter.

            For some reason, thinking about the squirrels gathering their winter food had me remembering times from years ago, when my now grown children were very young. Money was tight, and I stretched every dollar as far as it could go. I made my children’s clothes with fabric from the remnant piles, and I made all our meals from scratch. We often ate potato soup or pancakes and eggs for dinner in order to save money.

            By the time we paid the rent, utilities, and health insurance, there wasn’t much left in the budget to stretch. One winter, it was especially bad. I had canned two bushels of peaches and frozen dozens of ears of corn, yet it seemed there wasn’t enough money left to feed my kids.

            Fortunately, God provides for his children, just as he provides walnuts for the squirrels.

            Just when I was having doubts about where the next week’s meals would come from, God sent two special gifts. First, my brother called. He and his wife had an opportunity to purchase half a beef, but they didn’t have a freezer to store it. If we would store the meat for them, they would pay their “locker rent” to us in beef. The next day, my husband came home with a dozen or more packages of meat. One of his co-workers, whose husband was a butcher, just happened to “clean out her freezer.” She gifted us with all that meat. We were doubly blessed.

            Almost like the walnuts that dropped on the path, we had plenty of meat “dropped” in our path. Since we didn’t have to buy meat, we had enough money for the rest of the groceries. In spite of my worries, God provided ample food for our growing family. He sent us double blessings.

            Precious Father, thank you for providing for my every need, even when I worry or doubt.

Matthew 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?