I'm quite excited!  Blackberry season is about 5-6 weeks away (sooner if we don't get some rain soon), and it is a time of year that brings bountiful blessings in many ways. 

     Not only do we enjoy a generous harvest of berries from several wild blackberry patches in the area, but the very act of going out early in the morning, when the world is still quite quiet, affords wonders and joys not often found through the rest of the year. 

      It is a decidedly unique and glorious season of just 2-3 weeks in which I find myself lost in a reverie of thankfulness, not only for the berries, but for the myriad ways that God tells me about Himself, shows me things about myself, and teaches me:

 about praise, worship, and wonder - about Himself! 

     Allow me to share something I wrote last year upon returning home, full of scratches, stains, sweet berry smells, and a very full heart and soul.

When the blackberry season hits...I never cease to be amazed at God's bounty!  It brought me immediately to a place of Thankfulness!  

LORD, Thank You for this astounding display of your provision!...As I searched through the thicket for patches of plump, ripe berries, hacking back thorny runners and dodging overhead prickles, I realized that 'blessings' are as varied as anything else in God's economy.

                                      Let me explain: 

Some berries are just there - easily reached, few prickles stand in the way. Others must be searched for, worked for!  Sometimes those are fabulous, engorged berries - temptingly near - but just out of reach!

 If possible, I inch near to them, setting aside the thorny runners until I can gain the juicy treasures.  Some I drop! Some fall irretrievably into the thicket, some simply hang there, unattainable, telling me that not all blessings I see are mine, or that the blessing my Father has for me through those berry-moments, is to learn of Him - 

                     His ways, His Glory, His Perfection, His Love.

Full of praise  - thanksgiving - adoration - wonder - awe!  Who wouldn't be?  Who can stand in the shower of His blessings so manifold and varied and not wonder and adore?  

Can you look around you now and see something of the varied blessings of His love in your life? Sometimes they are obvious, and sometimes we have to search a little harder - maybe right now it's just being able to check out and SLEEP for a few hours,

      ...or to feel a gentle breeze,

               ...or receive some small token of love from someone near (or far), and dear

     If you can't find something to be thankful for - a reason to praise our God, 

             ...ASK Him, and He will show you - I'm sure of it - I'm praying now for you, to lift your gaze to the One Who gives all, and 

                                                         ...Praise Him!

And while you do, listen to this wonderful old song that often comes to my mind, heart and voice when alone in the blackberry patch.  For this is, indeed, My Father's World!