Abundance

There is an abundance of blessing along the paths I tread with Dusty just now. Wild raspberries, small but perfectly formed and sweet, offer their bounty to birds and whatever other scavengers there are around – including me! As Dusty sniffs smells on the ground, I painstakingly pick some of these tiny berries and freeze them for making into jam when I have gathered enough.

A neighbour’s garden is bursting with red and black currants, and as they are temporarily down south, I’m not sure if anyone else is picking or whether I should swoop in and spend a few hours stripping the branches. Will check on that before I go helping myself, but it is sad to see ripe fruit drop to the ground and rot. 

The brambles (blackberries) are forming and will be ready for picking in another month or two. When we first moved here, over thirty years ago, a common road hazard was coming across individuals or couples parked precariously along these narrow lanes while they picked the brambles to use in desserts and jams and jellies. Now nobody picks them but me.

In times of austerity, one would expect more people to avail themselves of the treats which nature offers free of charge. But perhaps everyone is just too busy, or maybe an entire generation has grown up not knowing even what they are.

I didn’t know what they were when we moved here. But others taught me what to do with them, and now it is part of the rhythm of my year. 

All this in-gathering takes time of course. But it is time well-spent.

God says in the Bible, ‘I took care of you in the wilderness, in that dry and thirsty land. But when you had eaten and were satisfied, you became proud, and forgot me.’ (Hosea 13) 

I have been in the wilderness at various times in my life, and I have been aware that God was providing for me. Sometimes it was a spiritual wilderness. Sometimes it was a wilderness of thorny relationships. Sometimes it was a financial wilderness. 

God has consistently provided for me. Like the time required for gathering the wild rasps and brambles, it takes time sitting with him, listening to him, to appreciate just how significant is his daily provision. 

Sometimes, to our shame, we are too busy grafting to take time to appreciate what God is doing, to count our many blessings. We need to take time. To establish a rhythm of listening for God which is as natural as taking the next breath. 

I hate the thought, but recognize the truth, that when we are satisfied, when things are going well for us, it is easy to put it down to our own efforts, to become proud, and to forget what God has done, and what he is doing.

He is a faithful God, who lavishes all of us with good gifts. Even in the barrenness of a wilderness, look out for the wild raspberries. They will be there.