Berry Picking

  

It’s my favorite time of the year—Blueberry season.  Picking berries is one of the few physical activities I enjoy. Blueberries are my fav!  I’ll eat them fresh, frozen, mixed and baked.

 

I go alone most often.  You might think it’s a quiet activity with time to reflect and meditate.  Not really.  Lots of other people are picking.  I overhear snatches of discussion on physical ailments, relationship issues and parents instructing kids on harvesting and behaving!

 

Today I did consider blueberry picking as a metaphor for living life.  Some folks search the field for the very best bush and patiently pick every single ripe berry.  A woman the row next to me spend an hour on one bush.

 

Some folks use the casual method.  (I think I’m one of them.) I choose a row with as few people as possible, walk past the first couple bushes and stop to evaluate the number of ripe berries.  When I tire of a bush, not that I’ve harvested every ripe morsel, I move to another or walk to the other side.

 

Then there is the chaos method.  No rhyme or reason to the bush selection.  I don’t think these people last long at picking because the reward is so delayed.

 

Berry picking requires discernment, gentleness and patience.  The ripe berries often are nested among other unripe berries.  To discover them you need to bend over and look up under the leaves.  The berries are small and to pick my usual 3.93 pounds, takes time (for me about 1.50 hours).

 

Berry picking might give me some advice on living life.  I like to think that I have control and select the path of my life.  But do I?  Just because I chose Patch #1, I can’t expect or command the berries to be ripe and visible.  The woman who chose just one bush and worked it for 1.50 hours didn’t harvest more berries than I, who visited at least 10 bushes, crawled on the ground and sat in the dirt looking up.

 

We can’t control life.  The morning session was punctuated with at least two squawking birds, a cooing dove, buzzing insect or two and a loud cricket or frog.  The birds expressed their disapproval of the humans gleaning their field.  I imagine Mama bird thought she’d built the nest in a prime location near a great food source.  Now she discovers the invasion of pesky humans stealing the freshest and best.

 

Our lives are like the berry patch.  Try our best to select and plan, then some random event or person disrupts our best laid plans.

 

In James 4:14 Life is described as “a mist.”  It’s hard to hold a mist, to plan for a mist or to use a mist.  It reminds me that life is fragile, precious, and not under my command.  We can’t be proud and try to hold onto something so tender too tightly.  We also can’t ignore it and think life is under no control and chaos rules.

 

Rather, let’s honor the life given by the Creator of life, who allows us to live it.  We don’t have to control it, expand it or distribute it, just live and use it to bring glory to the source and origin of life.

 

Jeremiah 10:23 in The Message notes that mere mortals can’t run their own lives because we don’t have what it takes.  I do not own the berry bushes.  I have no control over when and how many berries ripen and are harvested.  I’m privileged to show up when the berry patch owner opens the gate!

 

I don’t have what it takes to manage my Life but I know who does—God.  He gave me life, biologically and spiritually, physically and eternally.  Once upon a time, in a ladies room in Denver airport, I pointed out to a 3 year old boy expressing his dislike of the travel day, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.  Go along with the flight schedule as it is or be angry and embarrassed along the journey.  I was glad the 3-year-old was wise enough to give the easy way a try.  It’s tough to be trapped in an airplane with an angry toddler!  Suppose God feels the same way?

 

The next time I feel like that 3 year old, frustrated with lack of control of life, I’m going to think of blueberries, which I love, fresh, frozen, mixed or baked.  Life is a gift and God is in control.  I don’t have it in me to control the chaos of life on earth (the hard way). I have the promise of eternal life with God.  The easy way is to trust and follow God’s plan for my life (and maybe strive to break the four pound mark for a day of blueberry picking!).

‘

Put On Influence

 

I had the privilege this past week to write the obituary for my Daddy.  It was very therapeutic.  I was impressed by how his character influenced my development.  I described him as a character who had character.  He was a fun guy, a great storyteller and up for adventure.  

 

Upon my review of the first draft. I realized I’d tallied what he did, his accomplishments, but hadn’t listed who he was, his character.  He taught me about integrity, loyalty and planning for the right thing.

 

He did not have a formal class or presentation.

§  Dad always had a plan yet was open to spontaneity.  

§  Dad always wanted the best for his loved ones.  

§  Dad sacrificed for his loved ones.

 

My brother and I learned through the osmosis of family life with Dad.  Occasionally, he would announce a new word to learn or lesson from his life but most often, he just was himself.

 

What must it have been like to with be Jesus in the flesh?  

 

In my reminiscing, it occurred to me that Jesus taught the original disciples in a similar method.  Sure, He had sermons, teachings and explanations. He sacrificed Himself for us, His loved ones. But on a daily basis He was just Himself.  Himself being God Incarnate!

 

Jesus modeled for the disciples love for God, for others and for themselves. Jesus’s earthly life demonstrated forgiveness and God-given purpose. Jesus came 

§  to fulfill prophecy

§  to demonstrate God’s love for us

§  to die for our failures.

 

Life is about influence.  Today influence is usually all about social media. Yet the average person influences 80,000 people in a lifetime (average life expectancy is 78 years). Some of this influencing is done as a child so it’s not all on social media, even today.

 

80,000 people.  That’s about the capacity of GEHA Arrowhead Stadium—the loudest stadium, during a Kansas City Chiefs football game!

 

Influence can be negative or positive.  I have been challenged to take care to influence in a positive manner, expressing my appreciation for someone’ service (even when it’s their job), being polite in the most insignificant circumstances and being positive and leading with compassion.

 

Jesus called us to be and make disciples.  (Matthew 28: 19-20) How we influence will be crucial to living our God-given purpose.  To live out our purpose we should

§  walk the talk 

§  seize the teachable moments as the Spirit leads

§  love others as Jesus has loved us.

 

Let’s engage:

·      It made me smile when my son expressed compassion in a way that was my Dad’s way.  Daddy’s influence.  When have you reflected the influence of your mentor in a positive manner?

·      When you get dressed in the morning, what do you want to “put on” to guide your influencing for the day?  See Colossians 3: 12-17.

·      Consider how you influence those you encounter.  How do you want to be remembered?

·      One of my favorite memories of Daddio was the subject of one of my earlier blogs.  Here’s the link: “Leadership begins with the nearest and dearest”, 

 

https://sunsetjan.blogspot.com/2020/03/leadership-begins-with-nearest-and.html

 

The Lord Said to Me

 

“the LORD said to me,” Deuteronomy 2:17    

 

The speaker at the women’s conference asked who it was in the audience and without any hesitation or thought, my hand raised.  I said, “It’s me.”

 

            God had message just for me.  The speaker’s topic was passion, calling and purpose or “Why am I here?”   After she laid the foundation for acknowledging and acting upon our God-given calling and purpose, she moved into an interactive group discussion.  She was sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit as she elaborated her points.

 

            She sensed that someone was worried about a calling to blog but was reluctant because that someone felt “past her prime.” I’d spoken those exact words to myself in my head and even shared them with a friend.

 

I had stopped my regular habit of blogging a few years ago.  Several of the most “recent” (and this is a most generous use of the word “recent”!) posts announced my return to the habit.  

 

            I have been mired in self-doubt for months.  I even surprised myself that I have been so fickle.  I blogged the entire book of Deuteronomy and embrace the book as one of my “favs.”

 

            Why did the book of James(my most “recent” blog topic) and the verses on doubt cause me to freeze and abandon a clear calling? I couldn’t be authentic encouraging others when my thoughts were consumed with self-doubt.

 

            My theory: I was stuck in dubiety. 

 

I learned this word, dubiety, in my small group during a discussion on doubt.  We started with the well-known doubter, Thomas (John 20:24-29).  Thomas was absent when Jesus miraculously appeared in a locked room to bring peace and instruction to the disciples after His crucifixion.  Thomas wanted to see and touch Jesus for himself. Thomas could easily have been a native Missourian where the motto is “Show me!”

 

            Doubt is defined as a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction. Doubt has a negative connotation.  Doubt divides, raises the fear level and blinds us to God’s work.  

 

Dubiety is “ramped-up” doubt.  It means unusually hesitant uncertainty or doubt that causes vacillation (much like being tossed about in the waves of the sea as mentioned in James 1: 6).

 

            There may be a good side to doubt before it becomes crippling dubiety.  Some of the greatest heroes of the faith (like Moses, Sarah, David and Elijah ) spent some time in the ocean of doubt of self  and faith.

 

Doubt can be an opportunity to choose to trust God and see God work. Doubt can cause us to take stock in our faith and how we express it.  Perhaps dealing with doubt by embracing the peace and familiarity Jesus brought to the disciples will enable us to share our uncertain thoughts with others and build faith in Jesus, each other and ourselves.

 

God’s grace is overwhelming!  So many times I’ve failed.  Yet the Lord said to me “you are not past your prime” and “you still have a purpose”!

 

So once again I am returning to my calling of nearly 10 years to blog; to bring encouragement to believers and seekers to embrace a life of following Jesus.  I completely endorse life with Jesus leading.  It’s time, again, for me to get off the paralyzing dubiety carousel, swallow my latest dose of doubt and enjoy blogging.

 

When I first began blogging, through a friend the Lord said to me I had an insight that others needed to hear.  Through the speaker the Lord said to me that my blog may be a blessing to someone or may be used to deliver an answer to prayer.

 

Let’s engage:

 

·      What has the Lord said to you through another person?  Who was it and what did the Lord say to you?

·      What Bible verse will help you control doubt?  My memory verse with be Deuteronomy 2:17.  Here’s the link to one of my earliest blogs on this verse: https://sunsetjan.blogspot.com/2013/10/memorizethis-one.html

·      Please share your thoughts and comments.