This year, my March On The Farm post discussed my wild, unruly grapevines that I had neglected for so long. But this year would be different, I decided. Through the spring and early summer, my sons and I worked tirelessly to prune, replace posts, and wire the vines to train them. We expected a bountiful harvest in the fall.

Weekly, my four-year-old grandson Daxtyn and I would check the grapes. As we watched tiny green pearls hanging from the vines, he would ask why we weren’t eating them. Repeatedly, I reminded him that it takes time for them to ripen into delicious fruit.

His patience runs thin sometimes, as does mine, but he is only four years old. What is my excuse?

One day we spotted two deer near the vines. Daxtyn watched in amazement as the doe and fawn grazed close enough to us to see the fawn’s white spots. He didn’t know whether to scream in excitement or jump off the porch and join them in the field. Meanwhile, I worried about the damage they could do to the grapevines. Would all the hard work done in the spring be eaten and undone?

Out of our sixty acres, why would the deer focus on the grapes that had been nurtured with such great hope?

I was just about to shoo them away when a verse in my soon-to-be-released children’s picture book, I’m Okay, Momma! popped into my head.

I’m okay, Momma!

‘Cause when you point out

God’s wondrous masterpieces-

The earth, heaven, and stars-

my faith always increases.

You showed me: PEACE

My mother’s example from my childhood spoke to me loud and clear. She had modeled the Fruit of the Spirit to me; now it is my turn to demonstrate “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,” found in Galatians 5.

What was this grandmother thinking? Just imagine the lesson I would have been teaching my grandson with my ranting and raving. When in reality, that doe, one of God’s masterpieces, only showed her young how to forage for food.

A lesson learned! Little ears and eyes hear and see everything, including the spots on the fawn and tiny green pearls.

This grandma learned peace.