The Christian men’s conference which hubby and our son recently attended was overflowing with patriotism and love of country! Upon arriving at the venue, hubby and our son parked then began the trek towards the entrance gate. The main road leading to the entrance gate was lined on both sides with pickup trucks, decked out with American flags!
Is that not great!
I love my country!
I love the red, white, and blue!
Therefore, in honor of the 250th celebration of the founding of our country, I thought it would be fun to do a “Red, White, and Blue” blog post.
Kicking things off, as I walk my daily loops around the front gravel drive, we have …
Red!
The wild red huckleberries are ripe!
I’m supposed to be walking loops for exercise, but instead I keep finding myself off in the bushes feasting on wild red huckleberries. (Ha!) Gotta be honest – the first one is tart! It is not pucker-proof! But once you get past the first one, the rest aren’t quite so bad.
I love red!
White!
These beauties sprang up in the weedy bushes where I scattered wildflower seeds several years ago. I think they are survivors of those wildflower seeds. My Seek nature app tells me they are: Dame’s Rocket. Cool!
Obviously I’m off in the bushes again … totally distracted … when I’m supposed to be walking loops for exercise.
I love white!
Blue!
This little blue flower appeared out of nowhere in the front flowerbed. What a total surprise! All I can guess is that it is also from wildflower seeds I scattered through this area several years ago … which, at the time, didn’t seem like they amounted to anything.
But here it is … blooming its little heart out!
My Seek nature app tells me this is: Bluehead Gilia. Cool! I’ve never heard of Bluehead Gilia before but I’m thrilled it decided to bloom in my front flowerbed.
In fact, I’m so excited that a second photo is in order …
I love blue!
How about let’s do another round of “Red, White, and Blue” …
Red!
The wild shoelace blackberries are producing prolifically this year!
Never in all the time that we’ve lived in the forest have the wild shoelace blackberries ever produced berries. I didn’t even know the wild shoelace blackberries turned ripe at the end of June. Usually August is when the invasive Himalayan blackberries turn ripe.
Surprise!
I guess the reason there are so many wild shoelace blackberries is because I stopped trying to fight against nature and I let go and let the wild shoelace blackberries grow like nature intended. The wild shoelace blackberries are native to this area. So they are going to grow … no matter what.
It’s amazing the blessings that come to us when we stop trying to fight things we should never be fighting against … and instead, we let go.
I love red!
White!
The invasive Himalayan blackberries, on the other hand, are not native! These blackberry plants are terribly invasive! They will take over, dominate, and control! They grow aggressively! They are covered in sharp painful thorns! They form dense, thorny, woody thickets which choke out all other native plants.
While I love the white blooms, these Himalayan blackberries will have to go! This is my task!
The same is true when it comes to our country. There are wonderful things about our country (just like the native shoelace blackberries) … and then there are invasive, destructive things which look very similar to what is good and true … but in reality these things will, in the end, wind up choking out liberty. They will aggressively choke out freedom and flourishing. These things must go!
It is our task to stand up for what is good and right and true. It is our task to stand up against those things which will choke out and destroy.
Blue!
Wild shoelace blackberries! Whoo Hoo! I love blue! (ok, technically they are a deep purplish color, but I think they count)
The wild shoelace blackberries grow on thin “shoelace” type vines which clamber and drape across the forest floor. This means these blackberries are growing down there on the forest floor, hidden and camouflaged by the draping foliage.
To gather wild shoelace blackberries, you must be very careful where you step! Or you will wind up stepping on the harvest.
To gather wild shoelace blackberries, you need to have a keen eye to spot the ripe berries down in amongst the clambering vines and foliage.
Wild shoelace blackberries don’t grow all together in one spot so that it’s super easy to gather them. No. They grow one berry here … and one berry there … and another berry over there. It takes time to gather wild shoelace blackberries. It takes patience to gather wild shoelace blackberries.
I love the blue! The blue are like the people of our country. The people of our country are normal, ordinary people growing down there on the forest floor of normal ordinary daily life.
The people of our country are growing the best that they can in their place here … and in their place there … and in their place over there, etc. …
Just like harvesting wild shoelace blackberries, it takes time when it comes to dealing with people. It takes patience to deal with people. We must be careful so that we don’t “step on” or “squash” people.
Some of the wild shoelace blackberries are a bit tart. Others are super sweet. In the same way, the people of our country … some are a bit “tart” (so to speak) … and others are super “sweet” (so to speak). But when you take a handful of wild shoelace blackberries and pop them in your mouth, it all balances out beautifully. The tart berries are balanced out by the sweet berries. The same is true when it comes to our county … we all balance each other out.
Together we are a beautiful bowl of ripe berries!
I love my country!
I love the red, white, and blue!
