Sometimes life affords opportunities that force you to pause and acknowledge the beauty around you. I confess that while I love the poetry of a bygone era, I rarely grant myself the time to enjoy the things around me so eloquently noted by the great poets of the past. But this week was different. Not different in its pace. It was still stuffed full of duty and business.
Yet, for 5-year-old Jack, the opportunity to play outside on a sunny afternoon led to hours of exploration and adventure. He came inside covered in all manner of outside muck, as he often does. But I noticed he was also covered in something new. He said, “It’s berries!” I had an immediate panicked response, realizing he had them all over his mouth. I asked him if he had eaten them (knowing the answer) and he replied, “no…I drank them. I made berry juice!”
I quickly told him he needed to show me where the berries were, worried that they were poisonous. He led me to hundreds of blackberries! They had grown up out of the weeds leftover from our efforts to reclaim our backyard land. I stood amazed at what God can grow in the midst of thistles and thorns. Last night, we made ‘Jack’s Blackberry Crumble’, named in honor of our little explorer.
I’m thankful for the slowing of the pace that forces me to pause and appreciate the created world and its maker who provides both the beauty and the opportunity to enjoy it. So here’s to more of life’s interruptions and the adventurous little boy who causes them.
By Chelsea Hamshaw, All Saints, Florence
