God's Blackberry Patch

My first pastorate was at the Rock Chapel Church; a small country church located among the cattle farms of the Ozarks. To say that the church was rural would be an understatement since it is located at least ten miles from a town regardless of which direction you travel. Nevertheless, being the pastor of this church was a wonderful opportunity for me. God gave me some wonderful people to work with, and he taught me a lot while serving there. Some of the best lessons that God taught me were learned as I picked blackberries behind the church.

Separating the church grounds from the adjacent hay field was a simple three-strand barbed wire fence. Like many such fences in the Ozarks, it was a constant struggle to keep the fencerow free of weeds and trees, and admittedly the fencerow was overgrown more than most. It was a source of constant consternation for our Trustees, and occasionally time would have to be devoted to weed-eating, or even more drastically burning off the fencerow.

Along that fencerow also grew a series of wild blackberry bushes. These bushes became my exclusive pastoral blackberry patch. One of the highlights of my summers at Rock Chapel was blackberry season. I love picking blackberries because I love the plump juicy little fruits. I love them right off the vine, or washed and added to my Grape-nuts at breakfast. Of course, they are also great in cobblers and jams, and I enjoy them as a topping for a bowl of rich vanilla ice cream. Even the little seeds that so frequently get stuck in a tooth don't bother me. I just love blackberries.

I also love simply spending time in the blackberry patch. Hearing me say that you might think that I am a country boy, but I am not. Most of my adult life I have lived in the city, and I love the noise and activity of the city. But I am not really a city boy, either. After visiting my hometown with me, a country-boy friend of mine proclaimed, "I thought you were a city boy, but you're really just a town boy." That is a pretty fair description of me. My hometown is Flat River, Missouri. As a child my family and I always lived in town.

I think that is why I enjoy being in the blackberry patch. There is something nostalgic about it. Time spent there seemed to bring the feeling of going back to the good old days. As you pick those berries there is a sort of reconnection to the rural past, to the primitive hunter-gatherer. For me in particular, the blackberry patch brought to mind summers past when as a child I would pick blackberries with my grandparents. These are fond memories indeed.

But there is an even greater reason why I loved spending time picking blackberries. I value the quiet and solitude. We all need periods of quiet and solitude. Even when Jesus was here on earth he set aside time for quiet and solitude. Richard Foster made this point very well in his book, The Celebration of Discipline. He writes:

Jesus experienced frequent outward solitude. He inaugurated his ministry by spending forty days in the desert (Matt 4.1-11). Before he chose the twelve he spent the entire night alone in the desert hills (Luke 6.12). When he received the news of John the Baptist's death, he "withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place apart" (Matt. 14.12). After the miraculous feeding of the five thousand Jesus "went up into the hills by himself..." (Matt.14.23). Following a long night of work, "in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place..." (Mark 1.35). When the twelve returned from a preaching and healing mission, Jesus instructed them, "Come away by yourselves to a lonely place" (Mark 6.31). Following the healing of a leper Jesus "withdrew to the wilderness and prayed" (Luke 5.16). With three disciples he sought out the silence of a lonely mountain as the stage for the transfiguration (Matt. 17.1-9). As he prepared for his highest and most holy work, Jesus sought the solitude of the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt. 26.36-46). I could go on, but perhaps this is sufficient to show that the seeking out of solitary places was a regular practice for Jesus. So it should be for us.

I think Foster has a good point. Our world has become a very hectic place. It seems we go all the time. We have tremendous demands placed upon our time. The world travels at a faster and faster pace all the time. Stores are open 24 hours a day 7 days a week. When my wife and lived in Colorado, our bank was open from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm seven days a week including holidays, certainly not traditional bankers hours. We are also always connected with cell phones. Shortly after coming to Victory one of our older ladies was visiting with me in my office when her cell phone rang -- it was one of her kids wanting to know "Mom, where are you?" And that scene is typical for many of us isn't it. Even in those rare occasions when we are alone, we still have radios, and CD players and MP3 players that make sure it is anything but silent.

Now I am not saying that things are bad in and of themselves, but I am convinced that if Jesus needed time for quiet and solitude then we most certainly do too.

Solitude is valuable for us because we need downtime to refresh and renew our energies. This particularly seems to be what Jesus used his solitude for. Solitude is also important because we all need places and times set aside where we can focus on the spiritual disciplines such as prayer, meditation, and listening.

As a pastor, I found the time spent among the blackberries to be an excellent oportunity to pray. It is sometimes difficult in the hustle and bustle of daily life to devote the time that we should to prayer. I think that is part of the reason why Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount...

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen of men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matt. 6.5-6 NIV

Countless prayers for my church and its members were offered while I was picking blackberries.

But I also enjoyed being alone with my thoughts while I was picking the berries. I found that time could be used very well as a time of meditation. Meditation is a lost art among many Christians today, but it was not so with the saints of the Bible. Isaac, we are told, would go out in the evening to meditate (Gen. 24.63) and the Lord told Joshua to meditate on his Law (Josh 1.8). The Psalmist loved to meditate on God's word and his deeds as the following verses demonstrate.

I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds. Ps. 77.12 NIV

I will meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. Ps. 119.15 NIV

Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Ps. 119.97 NIV

I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done. Ps. 143.5 NIV

We all need time to reflect on the truths of scripture. We need time to contemplate the Christian life. Solitude allows us to set aside time from our busy schedules to meditate on God's word, character, and acts.

We also need time to be still and listen for God's voice. We are familiar with the verse "Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps. 46.10 NIV), but how successful are we at just being still and listening for God to speak to us? I know that prayer is supposed to be communicating with God, but I also know that true communication only occurs when a person not only speaks but also listens to what the other has to say. I know in my own prayer life there is always the temptation for prayers to become a one-sided conversation, where I speak to God but fail to take the time to listen for his voice. Ecclesiastes warns us of just this thing.

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaen and you are on earth, so let your words be few. Eccl. 5.1-2 NIV

Time spent in the blackberry patch was for me that much needed time of solitude that gave me opportunities for prayer, meditation, and listening. So my question for you is, "Where is your blackberry patch?" We all need such time, and I encourage you to make such time in your life -- to find a place that can be as the KJV calls it, "your prayer closet," or as I have described it, "your personal blackberry patch."

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In the posts that will follow I will be sharing several of the personal reflections that I had as I stood in my blackberry patch. They by no means represent everything that I meditated upon while picking blackberries. Many would be of no interest to anyone but myself. Many have been forgotten. And I would be the first to admit that not every journey of my wandering mind is worthy of record.

What remains are a number of personal reflections about the spiritual life illustrated by my experiences of picking blackberries. Each in its own way is somehow related to blackberries, but the greater theme is the spiritual life that God has called us to. I offer them here as devotional thoughts to anyone who may be interested, and hope that they will be enjoyed as such. But I also offer them as an encouragement to find your own blackberry patch, that is as an encouragement to find for yourself a place where you can seek God and meditate upon his word and his goodness.