treasure hunt in the gooseberry patch!

I knew it was there, that patch of gooseberries.  Derek had pointed out the approximate location when we came to check out the house on day one.  It wasn't until this weekend, however, that Owen and I ventured out to do some berry picking (eating!) and were sorely disappointed.  These gooseberries, or 'poha' as the locals call them, are one of my all time favorites.  They're yummy enough, but the appeal reaches far beyond taste; the berries grow in individual, papery shells that have a striking resemblance to a Chinese lantern!  Who wouldn't want to eat them when they're wrapped up like a Christmas present!?  Now you understand why I was crushed to find them scattered on the ground, the berries either missing from the shell completely or nibbled on by bugs.  I was loudly expressing my displeasure as I knelt there on the ground, digging through the scattered plants.  Owen was verbalizing an opinion or two, as well!
Finally, giving up the search without a single berry in hand (or mouth!), I stepped back from the mess.  It was then that I looked up and saw the HUGE patch of poha berries directly in front of me!  I had been kneeling in the section that, for reasons unbeknownst to me, had been cut back with a weed whacker.  But the fully alive, bursting with berries patch just beyond it was triple the size!  I couldn't help but laugh out loud at the silliness of my situation!!  I was so determined to find even one berry in that tangled mess on the ground that I hadn't realized the hundreds of berries hanging just in front of me! And I thought to myself, as Derek likes to teasingly say, 'that sounds like a blog post!'

It's easy to get caught up in the day to day.  You find your rhythm, what works for your family, and you go.  There's nothing wrong with that.  Days are part habit and part 'this laundry has to happen or no one will have clean underwear!' with a little spontaneity sprinkled in to keep things interesting.  And it's beautiful and necessary.  I collapse in bed each night knowing that I'll wake up a little sooner than I would like and start again.  That's why it's important to take the occasional step back from it all and realize how blessed I am. Sometimes I dig myself right into a rut looking for buried treasure in my pattern of day in-day out.  It's as though I'm viewing a magnificent work of art but not grasping it's true beauty because I'm standing too close.  Nose pressed up against the painting, I'm unable to appreciate what those intricate brush strokes have been swirled together to create.
I'm certainly not saying that the individual moments, no matter how mundane they may seem, aren't ripe with potential.  But that's not what this post is about.  I'm learning a lesson in the beauty of backing up and glimpsing the big picture.  Just for a few minutes, taking a step back from all the dish washing and meal cooking and bottom wiping and whatever it may be that requires your all every single day and just realizing how incredibly blessed we are.

James 1 :17 'Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Isaiah 64:8  'Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.'

Every good gift; every single one, is from Him!  Even situations that don't feel like a gift, they're part of the plan.  They're vital to the big picture.  They are part of the sculpting!  And all these moments, each and every gift; the hard and the sweet, the laundry and the lists, all weave together in creation of a masterpiece so beautifully intricate and painstakingly detailed that only one Artist, one Giver of gifts, could be responsible for such handiwork.

Psalm 103:1-5, 'Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagles.'

And so I'm anxiously awaiting the ripening of all those poha berries in my backyard.  And I'm making deliberate attempts to quiet myself, 'stepping back' whether literally or mentally, and just saying 'Wow, God.. You are at work here!'  He is the Potter and I'm the clay and if I stop picking through the mess on the ground I'll realize the entire patch of goodness right in front of me!  May we spend more time thanking the Giver this week!  May praise and gratefulness bubble out of us as we go through the routine and check things off the lists.  May we realize and cherish the gift of life and the ones we get to spend it with.  And may we praise, with our whole heart, the Artist who sees the big picture and is always, perfectly at work creating masterpieces out of our messes.