Raspberry Stickers and Scratches

Gardening always provides good lessons for Christian living. For example, the largest raspberries are often found on the stem below the main berries. Finding these large single berries requires bending down and looking up under the leaves. Think about it. Don't we find the greatest graces when we first kneel down and then look up to God?

Raspberry stickers and arm scratches from yesterday's picking are still somewhat bothersome, but now I've got three more salad bowls with berries in the refrigerator ready to be washed and frozen. Our family's great pleasure at holiday dinners is black raspberry pie. But it takes work and minor pain to raise and pick raspberries (unless you are one of the many birds that sit in the apple tree overlooking my garden). The lessons: (1) the most delicious blessings God gives us come with a little bit of sacrifice; and (2) God's blessings sometimes accrue to those who only sit, watch and wait for an opportunity! [Birds can't steal, can they?]