INEDIBLE!

Lots of tree shade and a soil acidity change combined as a “welcome mat” for some unwanted visitors late this fall. I woke up, looked outside, and behold—lots of little white “umbrellas” under the backyard fir trees, which have a thick rug of moist needle “mulch” underneath them.

Forget the cutesy drawings of little fairies or gnomes pulling a mushroom out of the ground for a quickie umbrella. Some mushrooms are edible, but many are not. In fact, they can make you very sick or even kill. They have lovely names like “Death Cap” and “Destroying Angel.” Not savvy enough to know what these were, I went the safe route. Donning my garden gloves, I pulled up each mushroom, dumped it in a bag, and then dropped the bag in the trash.  Not one to take chances, I'll reserve my “mushroom hunting” to the little cans at the grocery store!

If you research “mushrooms” on the internet, your blood may run cold from the warnings of toxicity of many varieties. But the edible ones are there, too. One ad promoted a pound of dried morel mushrooms for $222. Re-read the amount: a pound! I understand why: hard to find. But they're free to foraging animals—bears to boars—who find them in the wild and go yum yum.

It's okay if, after reading a bit about mushroom hunters, you read Jeremiah 15:16 (KJV) with a different perspective:

Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.

And maybe a chorus from the 1970s-or-so will come to mind with its music to these verses in Psalm 19:9-10 (KJV):

 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

I'm not implying any connection with the Bible and mushrooms, other than that the Bible often uses very ordinary comparisons to help us understand heavenly truths. Yes, finding honey was a big deal in Bible times. As for me, I don't think I've ever eaten a morel mushroom. The cheap canned stems and pieces on the grocery shelf, yes. The common fresh ones in the produce section (great for stir-fry), yes.

And maybe here's another lesson. God sometimes uses earthly analogies to help us understand heavenly realities. Even as we eat food (including “safe” mushrooms) to sustain our earthly bodies, our “spiritual nutrition” needs to include scripture. What's written there didn't suddenly pop up overnight. But it's pure enough and “nutritious enough” to keep us growing closer to God.