It’s wild blackberry season here in the South, and around our house, the pickin’ is good… if you can beat the birds and bugs to them.

The South has many false springs, times where the temperature drastically moves from warmer to cooler and back and forth again. Then the heat of the summer is on, and we never know if it will let up by the end of September or maybe October… or maybe Thanksgiving.

One of these false springs is called “Blackberry Winter”. It’s a cold-snap we know to look for when we see the blackberry vines leaf and bloom. It’s a promise that even though the temperature has just dropped back down, growth and fruit are on the way.

I was harvesting the newest ripe blackberries around 6:30 this morning, before the heat and humidity set in for the day. I had worn my yard boots out to the wild-growing patches, but had failed to put on longer thick pants to cover the rest of my legs. I’ve been picking wild blackberries since I was a child and new what I was getting myself into, but I walked right into those vines anyway.

Why would I do such a thing? Because, to me it was worth it for the fruit. I go out there every couple days to try to harvest more than what is lost to bugs, birds, and over-ripeness. I wash and freeze them until I have enough to make a couple jars of jam or a cobbler. This may take a few weeks, but, again, it’s worth it.

Sometimes ministry, or just life in general, is similar. We know there is fruit(production/blessing/opportunity) to be found, and we have to decide if it is worth it to deal with the thorns. What are the thorns? Delays, disagreements, sacrifice, attitudes, discouragement, betrayal, fatigue, to name a few. We usually blame these things on other people or the devil, but if we’re honest, we’ll recognize that we’re usually our own biggest thorn. If we’re really honest, we’ll also admit that we have just as much capacity to be a thorn for someone else as they do to be a thorn for us. And we have to learn when to recognize when the fruit of that relationship, situation, or opportunity is worth it anyways.

This morning, I pushed a couple vines to the side and stepped into a bare spot of ground to grab a handful of berries. One small movement to the reverse had me stuck. I never felt the thorn go in, but boy did I feel it when I tried to get it out. As I reached around to try to unstick myself, I leaned down far enough to see that there were a few berries I missed. I left the thorn in place rather than getting stuck twice as I knew would probably happen and reached forward to pick my new findings. What had hurt me had actually put me in a position to find more fruit. When things come against us in life, bowing (either physically or metaphorically in our heart’s posture) will always yield a bigger harvest as we submit ourselves to the King, the source of the fruit, remembering that He is always good no matter what our current circumstance looks like.

Now that I had all I could get from that vine, I had to get loose so I could continue my harvest. Panic was not going to do anything but make it worse. To free myself, I had to carefully reach back and grab hold of the vine that I’d been stuck with. Grabbing the thorn wouldn’t do much good. It would break off from the stem and though it would have me free, it would still be stuck in my leg and the vine would have a wound as well. I had to grab the stem, the structure of the vine and hold it firmly while pulling the thorn from my leg. Becaues that vine held up both the fruit and the thorn. Destroying it wouldn’t do any long-term good. When life throws thorns our way, grab hold of the Vine Who is Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer.  

Paul spoke about having a thorn in his side 2 Corinthians 12:7. We don’t know exactly what it was, but he labels it as a messenger from Satan that God allows to keep him from becoming conceited. While this may sound strange to some, I see this as an example of God using what the enemy meant for evil and turning it for our good. It’s another example of God’s mercy. It might be uncomfortable for Paul physically or mentally to have that “thorn” in his side, but God sees eternally while we only see in part. God knew it wouldn’t be good for Paul to become conceited. Perhaps this was a weakness in Paul, just like we all have one weakness or another that needs submitting to Christ, and God knew He had to keep Paul in check. This would have not only been good for Paul long-term, but for those he was leading as well.

Thorns cause us to remember that we aren’t the center of it all, nor have we “arrived”. No matter how good we get at something, no matter how much we may be respected or revered, we must remember we would both have nothing and be nothing without God. We cannot produce our own breath, our own mobility, our own anything. He alone is the Center and Cause of it all. And though there was a thorn in his side, Paul leaned on the structure of his Heavenly Father and chose to keep going…. because the fruit was worth it.

What thorns are currently in your life? Are you allowing them to pull you from God or push you closer to Him? Are you learning from them? And are you focusing on the thorn or the fruit that is available? Are you thinking short-term or long-term like God? Consider the lessons a little wild-blackberry patch can teach us and go bear fruit amongst your own thorns.