Dusty Berries

There are berries. Let's call them blackberries. They grow on the bush by the compost pile though no one planted them there. I cannot call them wild, but maybe they grew on their own. We did not plant them, but we must have thrown away a berry in that spot. The sun shines down. It shines on the bushes when it can, and when it cannot, it shines on the pine trees above them. It’s not the best place for a blackberry bush. It’s in the shade of mighty pines, and it’s right by the road. If you eat these berries, you will find them dusty. But then again, dusty berries are delicious.

The branches are full. Some of the berries are black, ready to be harvested, while some are green. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. You see, this is a bush no one meant to grow. Only a few people have discovered it. And few wander out that far to pick the berries when they are ready. So they glisten in the sun, ready to be plucked. And you go with your berry bucket and begin to pick.

You pick the ones that are black, of course, for should you find a green berry, it would not come off the stem. It would cling on as if the stem gave it life. It would never leave its old life behind. You could spend all your time on that green berry. You could water it gently and bring its leaves out into the sun that it might get enough nutrients to ripen, but while you waited so patiently for that one berry to ripen, you would miss all the rest. You see, there are berries ready to be picked. There are berries ready to fall into your basked. If you only held your basket under the branch when a strong wind came, you may find them leaping off the branches of their own will. But you spent all your time on that green berry. You loved it. You cherished it. You wanted it to be saved. You wanted that berry to come into the basket that it may share in the eternal glory of jellies and jams. And because you wanted that berry, you missed out on all the other berries.

It could be that the Lord of the harvest is even there with you. He’s watching you as you work and encouraging you.

“Come over here,” He says, “These berries are ready to be picked. Leave that berry. I will watch after it. I will make sure it gets enough water and sun. I will make sure the soil is properly filled with nutrients. Come and pick these berries that are ready.”

But if you spend all your time on the green berry, those berries that are ripe will over ripen. They will dry out and crumble. They will be good for nothing but to be cut down and cast into the fire.

And we don’t know why God wishes us to leave our loved ones and share the gospel elsewhere. But I know God loves our loved ones more than we ever could. He loves them and wishes them to come to repentance. He wishes they would follow Him. He wishes for their hearts. But we cannot change them. Only God can.

Things to pray for:

That I would go where God leads and share the gospel with the people God has for me, for there are some people just waiting to be told of God’s love and they would willingly follow Him anywhere.

I’m not very good at sharing the gospel at work. Maybe I share the gospel, but I don’t use words, and that is necessary too. Please pray for boldness and opportunity to share Jesus with the people I see every day.

Please pray for humility as I come before God. That I would listen to his voice and do his will. I like to think I have it all together and know everything. But I do not. Pray I would change and not simply acknowledge my faults and continue living in them.