Those Ridiculous Pine Nuts

     I looked heavenward, shook my head, and laughed.  "Ridiculous!"  Child number four, age 8, was running with me, when he saw the pinecones.  "Mom, look!"  He stopped, bent down, and scooped up two tightly closed pinecones and rolled them into his shirt.  "Honey, why don't you just leave them on the side of the road and we'll pick them up on the way back?"  "No, Mom.  I'll just keep 'em.  I'm going to save them until they open up and the pine nuts come out."  That silly child ran two miles holding pinecones rolled in his shirt.  I waited for the Lord's nod in agreement from the heavens.  "Ridiculous!" I'm convinced He agreed with a smile.
     The pine cones were my fault.  I had wanted to make a pesto and I needed pine nuts.  I knew from experience that the cost of a dinky little bag of pine nuts at the grocery store was also "ridiculous", so I began to research how to harvest them myself.  Child number two, my thirteen year old daughter, the gardener of the group; was helping me.  Pine nuts, I discovered, were a lot like sunflower seeds in their shape and shell.  Simply gather the pinecones, place them in a burlap bag, and wait a couple weeks until they open.  Then, simply shake the bag and voila, pine nuts.  The conversation continued at dinner.  "When I was little, I used to watch them flutter down like helicopters in my backyard", my husband mentioned matter of factly.  I looked up from my plate.  "Those are seeds from maple trees.  The pine nuts don't come in helicopters."  Scott looked surprised. "Yes they do.  We didn't have any maple trees in our yard, Jenny."  The kids were watching us.  I sighed.  "But I saw a picture online of the seeds coming out of a pinecone, Scott."  Then I dropped it.  Sort of.  After dinner, I googled everything I could find out about pinecones, pine nuts, and helicopter seeds and showed my information to Scott.  There were no pictures of pine nuts in a helicopter shape and I even found the picture I had seen of the explosive looking pinecone on Wikipedia.  Scott was unmoved.  "They come in helicopters, Jenny."
    I had learned to be careful when disagreeing with my husband about something.  When I first became a Christian thirteen years ago, I made a commitment to read the Bible from cover to cover every year.  It is amazing what you learn when you read it word for word yourself.  I remember the first time I came across Scriptures about marriage.  "Wives, be submissive to your own husbands." (1 Peter 3:1)  When addressing modesty and beauty, Peter continued, "let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror." (1 Peter 3:4-6)  I looked up the Greek translation for "lord".  It means "master".  I tried to think of my husband as my master.  It was a foreign concept.  "My master, Lord?  I know that YOU are my master - but Scott?"  In response, the Lord made it clear to me that the American culture I was living in and had been influenced by was a sharp contrast to God's Word.  I continued to find confirmation in the Scriptures of God's plan for a happy marriage.  I learned that this submission thing wasn't because the Lord loved men more than women.  The Lord exalted women to a position far above what the common man during His time on earth had ever given them.  He instructed them, revealed Himself to them, healed them, cried with them, and died for them.  I simply had to accept the fact that the Lord had a plan for His creation; and it wasn't the same as a woman's.  He made man first and then created the woman to be his helpmeet.  She was made for man. These Scriptures tested me greatly.  And I tested them back.
     As I sat at my computer researching pine nuts, I remembered one of my first lessons in submission.  Scott and I were driving home from West of the Ashley.  Scott and I often have different routes to the same place.  I like the straight shot and he tends to take winding back roads.  He'll "clock" the mileage, but I try to factor in traffic, stop lights, and logging trucks.  I don't like to TURN because then you have to SLOW DOWN.  That is why I RUN.  Walking is TOO SLOW.  I was convinced during this particular drive that MY route home was faster than Scott's.  I decided to push - just a little- to get my way.  "Honestly, Scott.  This way is faster."  He sighed and acquiesed.  During our discussion, Scriptures came to my mind about marriage.  I was reminded that my submission to my husband was in reality an act of trusting God (1 Peter 3:5), but this was different.  I was RIGHT.  Surely, you only submit when there is a chance you could be wrong.  But I KNEW I was Right.  So I pushed.  Scott took my requested exit.  Within two miles, we were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for at least an additional hour due to an accident on the Interstate.  The Lord had every intention of protecting us from the inconvenience of a major traffic jam, but I had interfered.  It didn't matter if I was "right" about the distance or not.  All that mattered was that when I had taken authority of the situation away from my husband, it was an act of disobedience to God's Word.  There are ALWAYS consequences for disobedience.  I shared that lesson with my daughters.  "Marry a man you respect.  Find someone who is smarter and wiser than you are so it will be easier to look up to him.  And when you do, you must pray when you disagree with him before you open your mouth.  Even if you are convinced you are right, the Lord will humble you if you challenge His plan for authority."
     So I have learned not to argue with my husband.  He is a wonderful man - REALLY easy to get along with.  He never says, "I told you so."  He just looks at you with those eyes - like he did in that traffic jam. Those eyes that simply ask, "Why?"  The pine nut thing.  It wasn't an ARGUMENT.  It was simply a DISCUSSION.  This mystery had to be solved.  Why was my husband CONVINCED he saw helicopter seeds in his backyard as a kid?
     We went to a reunion picnic at Scott's parents' house.  I was sitting next to my father-in-law and quietly asked him.  "Pops, did you have any maple trees in your backyard before Hurricane Hugo?"  "Nope, but our neighbor did."  "Scott is convinced he saw helicopter seeds in your yard when he was younger and I was wondering how they got there."  "Well, I suppose they could have blown over the fence."  Ah ha!  That MUST have been what happened.  I hadn't mentioned the helicopter seed thing in several days, but I had good news for Scott.  He HAD seen helicopter seeds after all!  They just weren't from his yard.  I excitedly shared my discovery with him as he drove home.  He didn't say anything.  He just smiled, shook his head, and looked at me with those beautiful, blue eyes.  "Why?" So I let the whole thing go.  I was satisfied. 
    Then it happened.  My son's pinecones opened up.  Five children ran excitedly into my bedroom.  "Mom, look!"  Helicopter seeds filled with pine nuts were being thrown into the air all around me.  My little one announced loudly, "Mom, you were WRONG.  Daddy was right!"  I looked up toward my ceiling and pleaded to the Lord with MY eyes, "Why?"  My husband was at the opposite end of the house.  I would have to face him soon.  He walked in a few minutes later.  Smiling.
     Several days later I was running with daughter number two.  We came to the mailbox where we stop running and walk.  In slow motion, a helicopter seed carrying a pine nut drifted in front of us both.  It was saying, "Look at me!  I am a PINE NUT.  I can FLY.  Isn't God PRACTICAL?"  My daughter laughed.  "Hey Mom, you were RIGHT!  God really does humble you when you challenge Dad."  Oh, the pain.  I looked heavenward and heard it.  "Ridiculous!"  He said with a smile.