Strawberry Patch Fugitives

      On a beautiful, sunny summer morning, my son called and invited me to join his family in an adventure in strawberry-picking. Since they were leaving early in the morning, I left immediately to join my son, his wife and three small granddaughters.
      We drove in their van, for almost an hour, arriving near the New Hampshire border at a lovely, large farm, with acres of cultivated land and strawberry fields. Since it was “pick your own”, the fields were already full of people and children, with small buckets, picking their own strawberries.
      Each, in our group, had their own basket, and we wandered together into the lush, green meadow of strawberry plants, green and full with plump, red strawberries. The plants were resting on a mulch of straw. The sky was blue, with a few wispy clouds and the air was fresh. My granddaughters were excitedly picking strawberries and displaying to me especially large ones or those with interesting shapes.
      As I brushed aside strawberry plants in search of berries, there was a startling surprise! Hidden under the green strawberry plants and nestled in the straw mulch, was a bird’s nest, full of small, blue eggs. I gaped in wonder. The parents had certainly picked a convenient location, in the middle of a strawberry patch, a delicious and continuous food supply! My granddaughters rushed over to see whatever had caused their grandmother to gasp, and all of a sudden, I was aware that many of the other people had noticed, as well. Suddenly, I felt a rush of guilt and worry that I had betrayed the secret little nest to the public and endangered them.
      I carefully instructed my granddaughters not to touch the nest, and immediately, they adopted a protective attitude towards those unhatched eggs. Some other people came over, with small children, to view this spectacle, but seeing my gestures of hushing, they did not even ask me where the nest was, but only my grandchildren. Everyone also became very hushed and also adopted an attitude of protectiveness. I had wanted to notify the farm workers, but the other adults in our family cautioned against it, suggesting that the farm might not be so sympathetic to the birds and might actually destroy the nest!
      We left the nest undisturbed and hidden. We did not know what kind of bird had layed the eggs or where the parents were. Perhaps it was an abandonned nest? This was a source of conversation and internet search on our trip home.
      How special and unexpected it was to find the bird nest, full of eggs, hidden beneath the strawberry plants. It was unexpected treasure. It seemed to remind of the circumstances of the birth of Messiah—he was born in such an unlikely place—a manger or stable. The shepherds and angels could barely contain their joy, in seeing the sight of the Messiah at birth. Yet, this was only revealed to the shepherds by the angels, as the knowledge of such a momentus circumstance could cause danger to the new baby. In the same way, the Wise Men were warned, by dream, not to reveal to King Herod the location of the baby Messiah. Though King Herod had told them that he wanted to know, in order to worship the new King, his actual plan was to destoy the baby. So, therefore, the Wise Men left by another route, to return to their country and kept the location and information, about the new Messiah, a secret.