What better thing to do on a Saturday morning than to go blueberry picking!
Hubby and I arrived at the U-pick farm bright and early. Hardly anyone else was there. We grabbed our buckets and checked the sign to see which rows and what varieties were ready for picking.
All three varieties were ripe & ready: Reka, Patriot, and Duke.
So off hubby and I headed into the blueberry fields.
The first few rows we passed were Reka. We walked right past them. Didn’t even pause to taste-test to see if we might enjoy this particular variety. After all, we were both trained as kids that you never just take the first thing you come to.
The next set of rows were Patriot. Once again, we walked right past them. Didn’t even pause to see if we might enjoy this variety. After all, these blueberry plants were low to the ground. We wouldn’t want the hassle of having to bend over to pick blueberries.
We arrived at the Duke section. Now this is what we’re talking about. The blueberry plants were absolutely loaded with blueberries! Not only that … the plants were tall, which meant we didn’t have to bend over to pick berries. We just stood there and reached out … and blueberries fell off into our hand.
We had been picking about 15 minutes when a family showed up with two young boys. The dad and one of the sons decided they wanted to go pick Reka blueberries. So they headed back in the direction they had come from. The mom and the other son began picking in the Duke section.
They had been picking about 5 minutes when the mom told her son that she actually preferred the Patriot blueberries over the Duke blueberries. She said he could continue picking in the Duke section, and she would be just a few rows over in the Patriot section.
Hubby and I looked at each other. Is there something we didn’t know about the Patriot blueberries?? Were the Patriots actually better than the Dukes??
We hadn’t even bothered to taste-test the other varieties to see what they were like. We had just walked straight to the Duke section and started picking there because the plants were taller and easier to pick from.
We pondered if we should switch sections.
But we had both been trained as kids that “if someone jumps off a bridge you don’t just jump off the bridge too.” Or in other words – don’t just simply do what everyone else is doing.
So, we kept right on picking in the Duke section. All the while wondering if the Patriot blueberries were actually better.
Finally, with both our buckets over half full, we could stand it no longer. We had to go see what the Patriot blueberries were like.
Oh my goodness! … the Patriot blueberries were better! They were considerably better!
Why hadn’t we taste-tested the Patriots and the Rekas to start with???
Because we had just gone for the ones that were the easiest to pick. We hadn’t even thought twice about it.
The Patriots were indeed low-growing plants. We did have to bend over. The branches were so heavy and loaded with fruit that we had to lift the branches up off the ground with one hand and pick berries with the other.
We finished filling our buckets with Patriot berries. I decided to mix them all together when we got home … that way the nominal Duke berries would be interspersed with the super-sweet Patriots.
As we were exiting the field, we paused at the Reka section and took a taste. Whoa! The Rekas are super-sweet and delicious too! Why on earth didn’t we taste-test to start with???
The lesson God taught me in this is that in life we tend to automatically go for what appears the easiest. Just like the Duke berries were the easiest to pick.
But oftentimes in life, the things which are the “sweetest” and the best are not necessarily the easiest. In life the things which are the “sweetest” and the best are more like the Patriot berries which were lower to the ground and required more effort.
The things in life which are the “sweetest” and the best usually don’t appear grandiose at first glance.
The things in life which are the “sweetest” and the best usually take more effort.
The things in life which are the “sweetest” require some “bending over” (or in other words – humility).
And just like we had to lift the laden branches up off the ground in order to gather the fruit … so also, the things in life which are the “sweetest” and the best are usually “hidden” from our sight at first glance. They are like the heavy fruit “hidden” down on the ground underneath the branches. We have to “lift the branches up” in order to “pick the fruit” of those things in life which are the best.
Don’t just settle for what is easiest in life.
Or you might wind up with a life full of nominal … when you could have actually had super-sweet amazingness instead.
