(Minghui.org) We grow cherries for a living. In Dalian’s subzero winters, we usually put quilts on the roof of our greenhouse to protect the cherries.
When we were hit by a big snowstorm on January 5, 2015, we did not clear the snow off the roof quickly. We waited until the snow stopped at dusk to cover the roof with quilts.
After removing the quilts the next morning to get sunshine in, my husband told me that the wind had blown some quilts loose, and part of the plastice roof caved in under the weight of the snow. A lot of cherries were frozen. I was about to blame him for not going inside the greenhouse the night before, but I realized that I also shared responsibility for the damage.
Thinking that those cherries are also lives, I felt terrible for them. I said to them in my heart, “If you have a predestined relationship with me, just remember 'Falun Dafa is good and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.' Dafa is omnipotent. Things will be straightened out.” Two days later, when I checked the cherries again, I saw that they had recovered a lot.
My sister's husband checked on the cherries the next day. He said, “They’re damaged badly by the frostbite. There are black dots on the skin. There’s no hope of a harvest.”
Nevertheless, I insisted that the cherries would improve day by day. It was mind-boggling that the black-dotted cherries slowly turned green a few days later and then white. The cherries eventually looked as good as ever, except for some minor uneven surfaces.
More trouble followed when we had to open the air vent to lower the temperature inside the greenhouse as the weather warmed up: The red cherries attracted gluttonous magpies, which flew in through the large vent opening.
My son asked one day, “The magpies have eaten a lot of cherries. I couldn’t chase them away. What should we do?” Gutted by the financial loss of the “stolen cherries,” I took my son to the greenhouse and tried to expel the magpies through the air vent. Our efforts ended in vain. To make matters worse, a flock of magpies came a few days later, chirping on the greenhouse. I'd heard that hanging a lot of discs around could scare the birds away. While my son went home to fetch the discs, I opened up the air vent. But as soon as the vent was halfway open, the birds wasted no time flying back into the greenhouse.
Suddenly I remembered that Master Li (the founder of Falun Dafa) had taught us, “Everything has intelligence.” (Falun Gong) I realized that the birds may have come here for the Fa. I thus repeatedly told the birds to remember, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”
My son came back with the discs and asked me where to hang them up. I said, “Forget it. The cherries are so attractive that even I feel like eating them myself. Just let the birds eat them.”
Amazingly, the birds have almost never eaten my cherries again.
