When we bought our house a couple of years ago, we did not realize that one of the large sets of bushes half-way through our backyard was a great collection of Blueberry bushes. In fact, we just thought they were overgrown shrubs, so we began just chopping them down. Fortunately, I got tired before we finished the whole thing and late in the summer that year, we discovered our good fortune that the previous owners had blueberry bushes.
So, now we have blueberries, and the cool thing is, within a year, all the bushes we completely chopped to the ground had grown back up and produced some really sweet, big blueberries last summer.
HOWEVER, there is one bad thing to all of this. Inter-mixed with these blueberry bushes is a small cluster of blackberry bushes. I know, I actually really enjoy blackberry preserves on toast or bagels, but I’m not a huge fan of the berry itself. I’m even LESS of a fan of the skin-shredding thorns that grow on blackberry bushes. As the new blueberries grew, so did the branches of the blackberry bushes, and they grow in all kinds of directions.
I tried to be a good sport, and last year took my time carefully picking some of the blackberries off of the bush. The thorns just wouldn’t have it. They seemed to just jump out of nowhere and grab ahold of my clothes, and more times than I care to remember, they would embed themselves into my hands. I had scratches and holes all over my arms and hands. Occasionally I would get a good blackberry, but many of them looked great on the bush, but as soon as I managed to grab it, I discovered that it was mushy and bad. Overall, the experience was not my favorite thing. With blueberries, I usually got a good berry, and didn’t have to fight the thorns to get it. I decided that I didn’t like blackberries that much.
The other day, after doing some reading up about how late winter was the best time to prune blueberry bushes, I decided to cut back the set of bushes we left alone that first spring, because they were terribly overgrown and produced small tart blueberries last year. So, I got out the clippers and shears and went to work. What I discovered is that the stinking blackberry bushes are starting to grow already, and I got mangled once or twice with the thorns.
I finally just got as low to the ground as I could, and clipped every blackberry bush I could find. I even attempted to tear out a few roots and stumps. We’ll see what happens. I hope I got rid of the thorns. If not, I’ll just try to stay ahead of them and get rid of them as they grow, and maybe our blueberries won’t get choked out this year, and we’ll get some good growth from those bushes.
Okay, enough with the horticulture. Here’s what I learned from the experience. Lots of people go looking for the sweet experiences among the painful thorns. They may get the occasional berry, but most time, they are left bleeding and scarred. Why play a risky and potentially dangerous game for something that could very easily be bad, when we can simply go with something we know is good, simple to receive, and will not leave us in tatters.
God loves us. When the creator of the world offers His complete and unconditional love freely, in a way that actually can heal scars instead of giving them, why would we choose anything else? For what are you reaching? If there are thorns surrounding it, maybe it’s not the best thing. Look for the unobstructed offering of God’s love, and simply take ahold of a relationship that is ripe for the choosing, and will never stop growing and producing fruit in us.
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