Why Does The Blackberry Bush Have Thorns
“For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline”
Have you but ever been still just a long enough moment to have a thought speak to you so profoundly that it altars your perception? For me it was the simplicity of picking berries in trees and the intoxicating deliciousness of aloneness that brought about a string of thoughts. A string of thoughts I believe that God sent, floating on the humid breeze like a paper boat down a rushing muddy stream. Have you ever wondered why a blackberry bush has thorns?
My husband and son come along to pick berries but, of course out of personal gain. There is a beautiful creek which is a north fork of a local river that my son enjoys spending glorious naked hours (and hours and hours) swimming in. He of course loves to gorge himself on berries as well but this time, as his feet hit the dusty earth jumping from our truck, he shouted his refusal to help pick the berries again for his distain at being poked and scratched by the thorns. I have always, my entire life had a superpower. That superpower is the immense ability to be uncomfortable. I can be in intolerable pain, be falling apart, be on the verge of a complete emotional break down and still complete my day, still be able to see the good. I have to admit- when others show the inability to press forward, it bothers me. A lot. I didn’t on this day, feel like arguing, getting into a lengthy lecture, quoting scripture or the little red hen and so let him run down to the river with my husband. As I lingered in the silence and became more myself again, settling into my skin and feeling my body adjust to the calmness of being alone, my mind drifted as it tends to do. I feel, as I was there in the oneness that God placed a thought within my mind.
I noticed, that the biggest berries untouched by foraging animals, reside in the center of the bushes protected by the armor of the thorned branches. From ages of picking berries, I have a system for getting to the center and being able to emerge unscathed. I began to realize that life . . . is the blackberry bush. Its berries are Gods opportunities that he as placed before us. You see we often have a belief that if God givith it to us, than it shall be peaceful and lack turbulence (and yes, there are times where he needs it to be so, and so it is), but God cares more for our character than our comfort, and so He gives us obstacles. If we can stand the poking of the thorns, press through the pain to reach for the larger berries, we will have them. If we can become comfortable with the uncomfortable, than we can achieve. Without the challenge of achieving through difficulties, we than are unmotivated and dead inside. Even the insects who gather for the winter have challenges that they must overcome and persist through to attain the goal. Why does God give us challenges that cause us pain? We are weak. We are a being that worships and without the reminder that we must have faith and depend on Him, we will become dependent and worship identity, possessions and other worthless and temporary things.
I called my son to come as close to me as he could (since I was DEEP in the thorny forest) and he was amazed at where I ended up since he last saw me (in shorts no less).
I said “son, I have to tell you something God put in my heart to tell you.”
He was intrigued.
I explained my revelation with a simple closing -
“If we are always to afraid of the thorns, we will never be able to reach the juiciest berries. Yes, you can choose to avoid the thorns all your life and you’ll be OK - but you will never achieve, and you will never truly be happy with your own self.”
