Wild Blackberries

Found some blackberries on a hike I was on. I made a note of this and will return in a week to see if they are repening to pick.  I was there July 3rd and plan to return on the 10th or latter to see the progress.

Revelation 14:15 "And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.”

Just as I am waiting for the fruit to become ripe so is the Lord waiting to harvest the earth.

Unripe Blackberries

Blackberries would usually ripen around the 4th of July. This year was sort of sub tropical by the amount of rain we were getting. So even by the 24th of July there were many red Black berries.

I thought of looking for the maturing of answers to prayer that I am waiting for. There are many things that could slow up the answer. Yet I don't want to give up on God. The answer will come and He promised in His Word that He would answer.

Matthew 7:7,8 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For EVERYONE who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."

Blackberry Flowers

Hiking in a park we came across these Blackberry Flowers. We will be back to reap the fruit in July.

Power Line Recovery

Photo taken 23-Mar-08
This power line right of way was cleared last fall. I will be taking photos to show the recovery. I do not know if chemicals were use to keep the growth down.

On 21-Sep-08 I decided to find out how the growth was coming on this power line. It was Sunday morning and foggy with limited time I planned to walk over with my dog to take a few photos. I figured that there would be some knee high growth and some trees maybe growing up to waist high.

What I found was astonishing.


This first photo does not show any growth but it does demonstrate the amount of fog that was present that morning.


This area is ripe for thistles. And there were plenty here.



These 2 photos show the abundance of blackberries. They were not just growing along the ground but were about chest high, 5' and will reap a bucket load of blackberries next summer.




The above photo shows the high growth of grass. The red stemmed plant below escapes my memory, but there were many plants 5' or higher.




Above is a cottonwood tree that looks like it has made it past 8' in height. I could not get to it because of the blackberries.





There was no way I was going to get back to the spot I was at in March without a machete or a stick to beat my way in. But this photo shows how much growth has come back since last fall when all vegetation was cut out.



This photo shows the abundance of Black locust.


Nature will not be denied. Man may alter as area for awhile but if left alone nature will take it back. I find this example to be encouraging in the resilience of nature. God has made plants in such redundancy that even with man's effort nature will rebound. I know there are places that are ruined by overuse, strip mining. Some areas of the middle east have been barren for years. Yet with the wise management of man some of these areas are coming back.

In Israel there used to be a forest in the Negev. Now it is just desert. Trees are being planted back in the Negev with special thought to catching water for the tree and a forest is coming back into existence.

Ezekiel 20:46

"Son of man, set your face toward Teman, and speak out against the south and prophesy against the forest land of the Negev,

Ezekiel 20:47

and say to the forest of the Negev, 'Hear the word of the LORD: thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am about to kindle a fire in you, and it will consume every green tree in you, as well as every dry tree; the blazing flame will not be quenched and the whole surface from south to north will be burned by it.

Blackberry Season

Blackberry season is still in front of us. Cool weather and abundance of rain seem to have forestalled the ripening of the blackberries.

Many things may have been hindering our spiritual fruit from coming to maturity. But if you keep at it you will see it come to maturity. So don't give up hope. Keep seeking the Lord and steadfast in the work God has for you.