Late July – early August is blackberry season at our camp in Central New York State. The summer of ’92 was no exception. Once again, berry bucket in hand (the one my grand parents and mother once used) I returned to a spot that is a favorite of residents on Spafford Landing, only a stone’s throw away from the southeast shore of beautiful Skaneateles Lake. Needless to say, blackberry picking is a sweet and treasured tradition in our family handed down through the generations, and I had seen to it that both of my sons had the knack. This particular patch, however, took on special meaning to me. It was there that God gave me a vision of harvesting souls not blackberries.

’92 was unforgettably a good season for blackberries. On vacation away from Vacationland Maine, I had ventured out to get some fruit for my cereal. In little time I had come back to the camp with my bucket brimming with very ripe berries! That should have been a sufficient harvest. However, later on in the day I told KD that I wanted to go back to the patch and pick some more. Fruit salad and perhaps, you guessed it, a pie, were strong motivators! Once I had carefully worked my way into the solitude of the center of the patch I felt compelled, almost driven, to pick in a way I had never before experienced. Drawn to the patch was an understatement. I felt obsessed! Yet what was it?

There were so many berries that were perfectly ripe and ready for harvest. Yet, no one else on “The Point” was picking them! Some berries were so ripe that a careless brush of my hand would send them tumbling to the ground into the jumble of prickly undergrowth, to lie where they couldn’t be retrieved. It seemed such a waste to me.

As a result, that which normally was a relaxing treat had become a goal oriented task. I stood there hunched over in the center of the prickly patch on a hot summer day protectively dressed in heavy jeans and a long sleeved shirt. Then, in a strange mix of humble exasperation and perplexity I called out, “Lord, what in the world has gotten into me?? What is this all about? Why do I feel like I just HAVE to pick these berries?!”

I got an answer that day that I will never forget. The words were impressed on my mind as clearly as the word picture was before my eyes. They cut right through the heat and the haze hanging over the lake nearby, “There are people in Yarmouth that are falling to the ground and dying without coming to saving faith in Christ. Like these berries, many are ripe for the harvest. They just need someone to reach them.”

It was a vision of our neighborhood, our town, our state. It struck me, what a waste! And at the same time I felt affirmed that our church and the ministry, of which I was pastor, was very much in the mind of God. Although I had not as of yet experienced much of a sense of spiritual hunger in the air around the town, God knew it was there. The harvest is ripe.

Jesus said, “… I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for the harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests his crop for eternal life, so the sower and the reaper may be glad together.”
~ John 4:35-36 NIV

After a brief respite by the lake I returned, this time with my son Andrew, to the patch. My intention was to pick and to pass on some tips about “the art of blackberry picking” to the next generation. Because the more visible berries on the outer branches of easy access had been picked a few days earlier, Andrew and I had to go in deeper and search. Gingerly pulling the branches aside we moved in stepping carefully so as not to get hung up on the ever-present thorns. Sure enough, hidden away were more berries ripe and ready, some about ready to fall. We talked in general father-son chatter, interrupted occasionally by a sharp cry of “OWCH!” when a thorn pricked berry-stained fingers. In time, when it seemed that we had harvested all the available berries we paused for a few moments in the middle of the patch before making our equally gingerly retreat. It was a teachable moment. “Picking blackberries is hard work, isn’t it Andrew,” I said summing up the job.

“Yeah Dad, but it sure is worth it!” Andrew quickly replied with some left over enthusiasm. “You know Andrew, picking blackberries has something in common with leading people to faith in Jesus Christ. Know what it is?” I asked. “Both are hard work?” He answered. “Well yes, but its not always hard work. Sometimes its fun. I guess it’s just that it takes some things that both activities involve.” I went on to talk about three things that quickly came to my head: perception, patience, and pain. (It was early on in my vacation, so I was still in a 3-point sermon mode mindset!).

PERCEPTION You have to look for the berries and tell if they are ripe to pick.

  • You have to get away from the beaten path and search for berries that seem almost hiding.
  • Once you find them you have to decide if they are ready to pick.
  • Not all are ready to harvest. Some need more time on the vine in the elements of sun & rain. The same is true with people.
  • They don’t always come to you! You have to search for those that are ripe.
  • They may not be readably visible at first glance.
  • They may even be in hiding, but they are there.
  • They are not all ready to be harvested.
  • They may need more time in the elements of life to soften and sweeten.

Let the Holy Spirit guide you as to what your role is, to plant, to water or to harvest. It is only God who makes all things grow. (1 Corinthians 3:5-7).

PATIENCE You simply can’t rush picking blackberries. It is a slow and careful process. Work in a hurry:

  • You can miss some berries that might be just under a few leaves.
  • You can grab a berry and squish it too tightly between your fingers, ruin it for further use.
  • You can knock the berry off its branch so it drops to the ground out of your reach.
  • You will most certainly get stuck by a thorn.
  • Work carefully, slowly, deliberately:
  • You can pick more than one berry on a reach and bring all safely to your bucket.

The same is true with people. They can’t be rushed either.

Work in haste to harvest:

  • You can miss those the Lord specifically has in mind for you.
  • You will focus on those that seem more obvious, but the Lord has not assigned you.

Rush the work of the Spirit in you:

  • You will apply your own pressure
  • Your witness can do more to ruin than ready a person.
  • You can also run right into someone’s thorns!

We must be as patient with others as the Lord has been with us. (Galatians 6:8).

PAIN Blackberries come with thorns, and pain is part of the picking. Unless you get up close and risk the pricks you will find many potential berries out of reach.

  • You can keep your distance, play it safe, and yield a small harvest
  • You can get up close, take a few pricks, and fill your bucket.

The same is true with people. People have their thorns.

  • Unless you get up close enough for relationships (at the risk of getting pricked) you will find it hard to get the trust it takes to harvest.

Some people need to give out pain before they can receive help. (1 Peter 5:12-13).

When I finished my teachable moment, in words more brief than these did, I asked Andrew if he was ready to venture through the prickers once more to get out of the berry patch. Picking up his precious cargo of berries he deftly led the way out. As he did so I began to wonder if that too was a word picture just for me, his Dad, to see. I thought, perhaps one day my son too will be a harvester of souls. Having learned the art of blackberry picking, he will need Perception, Patience and yes, will feel some Pain. But in his own words, “It sure is worth it!”

“Then he said to his disciples, ‘the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into the harvest field.’”
~ Matthew 9:37-38 NIV

PS – Today Andrew, a man of faith, has his own ministry Living To L.A.S.T. (livingtolast.org)

—RWO/MAST