Changed by a tale of strawberries and love

My little sister and I

The 3rd of January I made a resolution that I would pen down my commitments and my goals for the new year. Last year I had placed goals in front of me, which I´m happy to say became a reality in my life; but if I ever had more resolutions than the ones I´m thinking about then I don´t know. So being better to write them down, I wrote a letter to Jesus.

Did you think I was gonna post that letter?!
I´m sorry, it´s kinda long and it´s adressed to my Creator.
The thing is though, I read that very day an article titled "Strawberries, candles and new Resolutions" by Saskia Smith:

It was a bright summer day in South Africa, and the old year was coming to a close. Thoughts had turned from Christmas celebrations to New Year’s resolutions.

The farmhouse door clanged behind me as I went into the kitchen. My mother followed my gaze to a heaping bowl of strawberries on the table. “Yvonna brought those over,” she said. “A gift from her family.”

I found the generosity of our simple neighbors almost awkward. Our missionary center occupied the largest and most comfortable house in the neighborhood. With all the people we crammed into our house, we needed the space. We had six young missionaries in training plus a lot of children, so this small farming community with its low rent and utility rates was perfect for our needs.

Yvonna was a teenage girl who lived two houses down. Like most families in the village, I knew theirs had tended the strawberry fields behind their house for months. In the most celebrated strawberry-growing area in South Africa, they cultivated the plump ruby fruits in their off-hours to supplement their meager income. And yet every harvest, our neighbors showed up at the door with their arms full of strawberries.

What made me feel worse was that I knew Yvonna had wanted to join our youth group for Bible studies for some time, but we had been genuinely busy and kept putting it off. I sighed. Oh well, there was yet another resolution to file away in my mental filing cabinet.

My family always celebrated New Year’s Eve with a warm blend of merrymaking and sobriety. It had been our tradition since I could remember, in the final hours before the countdown, for family and close friends to participate in a candlelight gathering. Each person, down to the youngest, would have an opportunity to light a small candle from a large central one that symbolized Jesus. Then they would share the things they were most thankful for about the last year, and also their hopes and prayers for the New Year.

That night, as I’d planned, I publicly forgave a friend for a wrong that had made my life emotionally difficult for the previous few weeks. It felt so good to get it off my chest that I almost wished I had done it earlier.

Other people talked about wanting to do more for the local community. We all agreed. The New Year was the perfect time to start getting more involved.

I went to bed relieved. New Year’s Day dawned bright and full of promise. But Yvonna was not there to see it. She was killed in a tragic automobile accident in the early hours of the morning.

I still believe that resolutions are a good thing. But each year, when the fireworks have dissolved from the New Year sky, I think about Yvonna. And then my thoughts drift to how we often wait for a convenient time to do the things we should be doing today. I know people who wait for birthdays and holidays to send cards or to pick up the phone to tell loved ones just how much they mean to them. Some people wait for a special day to propose to their sweethearts. Others store gifts away, waiting for the “perfect moment.”

Today, let’s make a new resolution. Let’s resolve not to wait until the New Year to do the things that really matter.

It made an enormous difference in me. I had commited among other things, to love no matter what sacrifices must be done on my side, if Jesus sacrificed His life so that I could experience love eternally, then any type of sacrifice to give love is nothing compared to that.
Moments earlier I was thinking how much I love and appreciate certain ppl, thinking how much they mean to me and thinking I should better write it all down to later put it into card and give it to them in Valentine´s Day, which is soon approaching. But this story shook me and even changed my resolution for the new year.
I commit to love now.

"Welcome, New Year," said Captain Jim, bowing low as the last stroke died away. "I wish you all the best year of your lives, mates. I reckon that whatever the New Year brings us will be the best the Great Captain has for us--and somehow or other we'll all make port in a good harbor."

-chapter 16, Anne´s House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."
Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922)