But one thing that I really, really look forward to is blackberry season! I love blackberries! Since I was a very small girl, I've taken great pleasure in picking berries from wild bushes that grow alongside country roads. I don't even mind the scratches that I get. I even know that I'm bound to pick up a chigger or two along the way. It's just part of the game.
Recently, my mother and I were visiting with a lifelong family friend, Mrs. Rose Marie. She has always seemed like a second mother to me, as my sisters and I were raised right along with her five children. In fact, for several years, we lived directly across the street, and I thought that their home was just an extension of our own. While we were visiting, they remembered a time when our landowner let us go onto his property - a place that had a very old cabin - to pick the biggest juiciest blackberries you've ever seen. On this occasion, we all went... husband, kids, everyone. When we got there, sure enough, the berries were prize-winners! But almost immediately, we began to be attacked by mosquitoes. When I say attacked, what I mean is attacked. They were relentless. They not only went after the men, but they focused their efforts on the women and children, as well! It was brutal. We had gone out in a pickup truck (we kids probably sat in the back), and it was probably before all cars were equipped with AC, but my mother, Mrs. Rose Marie and the children sat in the cab of the pick up with the windows up. Only the men and the other family's son had on long pants and could stay outside long enough to gather some fruit. In the end, the ladies remember that we might have been able to get about a gallon of fruit for each family - a pitiful offering from such amazing bushes! The mosquitoes were just too offensive to get much more than that!
When I think about that story and about all the girls and the ladies in the cab of the pick up, I have to laugh! Our families have so many stories that are filled with laughter. Mama and Mrs. Rose Marie were always carrying on about something that made them chuckle. It is still the same today. When we get together, laughter fills the air. A much better environment than air being filled with mosquitoes! The mosquitoes were on a mission to keep us from gathering the berries. And the more that I think about it, the more it occurs to me that there will always be something that fights us when we are close to gathering fruit.
Have you thought about that? The times that are filled with the most intense battles in our lives are the times when the Holy Spirit has deposited in us the deepest riches. Your enemy knows when you are getting close to those sweet deposits, the fruit of your walk with God, and he does everything in his power to get you to turn away and miss the blessing that is rightfully yours. Don't fall for it! If you feel nasty little spiritual mosquitoes targeting your life, press in! Don't run! Persevere! Mosquitoes stay near things that are blessings to us: water - our life source, fruit - our sustenance, shade - our refreshing. In that same way, attacks from your enemy tend to focus on those places in your life where you will gather one of those things. Sometimes, you need to pull out all defenses! Stand your ground and get what God has for you. If you are to claim a prize, it won't be without a battle! The ones who get the trophies are the ones who fight the hardest and persevere through every situation.
I encourage you to press through the difficulties in your life so that you can gather the great things that God has for you! "Therefore, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith." (Hebrews 12:1-2a) This is not a nail-biting battle, one where the outcome is unclear. We're not even on the edge of our seats here! We know that victory is ours! We never fight for victory! Instead, we fight from victory! The enemy's plot is to aggravate you enough to where you'll turn back and walk away from your prize. Keep swatting the mosquitoes, though! The fruit is yours!...now go get it!
Amen!
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