There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven…Ecc. 3:1, NIV
It’s berry picking season, the time of the year when intrepid berry pickers brave the hot sun, wet grass, thorn bushes, bugs and everything else nature can throw at them to pick the berries that taste so good when winter’s chill sets in.
Here in Western Pennsylvania, the season lasts from mid-June to early-August. In sequence I pick strawberries then blueberries then raspberries and then blackberries. Sometimes the berries can overlap, especially the raspberries and blackberries. I’m no expert, but my observations tell me the seasons can be good or bad depending a great deal on the weather, how much rain we get and hot the days are. I sometimes find berries in abundance and sometimes they can be scarce.
I’ve also noticed of late the dwindling habitat for wild berries. I happen to live in an area blessed by plenty of fields and forest land, but that blessing cannot be taken for granted. Natural gas drilling, coal digging and housing developments are reducing the amount of land available for berry pickers.
Despite all of this I enjoy leaving my home as the sun is rising and heading to the woods and fields for berries. The stillness of nature gives me an opportunity to clear my head and think about things more deeply. I’ve noted over the years there is a lot of wisdom that can be gleaned from such quiet moments of reflection, a lot of lessons to be learned. When combined with scriptures they can illustrate key life-lessons that can be nurtured and practiced.
The blackberry bush provides the greatest challenge. It can be easy to reach from a trail or buried deep in thorns and weeds. It can appear to be sparse at first glance but further inspection reveals berries hidden beneath its leaves, laying low to the ground or wrapped in tree branches above.
What follows is a series of meditations I’ve had over the years while picking blackberries. They’ve helped me solidify my thinking about life itself and how it is faced with a Christian world view. Some of the insights have surprised me; others heave reaffirmed what I always thought to be true. They key is to approach this intentional solitude with an open mind and an open heart.
As you join me on this path to discovery keep in mind these are very personal thoughts and reflections. I do not by any means wish to sway you or convince you of anything, only to let you in on the thought process and maybe help you to look at things in a different way. Indeed, as the seasons change so do the lessons and meanings we glean from them. I am not the same man I was twenty, ten or even five years ago. As one writer put it, the God accepts us as we are but he will not leave us that way.
So this is, in reality, my thoughts as I work out my faith “with fear and trembling.” Berry picking has become a vehicle to help me do that working out. I am humbled by the thought that my struggle may help others in their struggles. It’s the type of joy a berry picker gets when a loved one bites into a piece of toast covered with blackberry jam on a cold winter day and smiles.
Up next: The Preparation.
