"Blackberries"
I don't like to see blackberry season come to a close. I still see a few around at the roadside stands. Steamy hot summer days spent picking blackberries conjures many memories. Our family of four covered every inch of flesh we could with old clothing, sprayed with insect repellent to deter chiggers and headed for those briar infested bushes. When the boys were small we made quite a game of it and every time we saw the big juicy berries, Dennis would cry, "HARK, I see blackberries." We'd all go scrambling to where he pointed. Hence, in our family, blackberries retain the name, HARK. We dared to place our feet and hands in places I never thought I would to pluck those elusive sweet 'hark' berries.
One blackberry season years ago when depression dulled my senses, Dennis and the boys persuaded me to forge into the bushes again. We eventually found a patch of trellised vines. Nice picking! That night I dreamed...A huge cluster of perfect blackberries appeared before my face. A quiet voice encouraged me,: "This fruit is yours for the picking. All you have to do is reach out and take it."
Since that time, blackberries bring sweet memories of the Fruit of the Spirit He offered, and I continue to taste, as long as I reach out and pluck the promise.
"The Spirit, however, produces in human life fruits such as these: LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GENEROSITY, FIDELITY, TOLERANCE AND SELF-CONTROL...and no law exists against any of them." (Galatians 5:22 JB Phillips)
HARK! There must be some blackberries hiding within all that fruit.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment