Wild berry picking for contemplatives (a parable)

Wild berries are part of the awesome bounty of summer. Fresh or jammed or tossed in your rumtopf or clafoutis, these delicate fruits sing of the fleeting days of summer. And you've got to beat the birds and beasts to that beautiful bounty of berries (couldn't resist the alliteration).There is a contemplative aspect to this art. If you have ever searched for wild berries, you know what I mean.Foraging  berries in the woods and bramble requires commitment - you must go out often, be content with little return on your investment some days, and not give up. Gathering berries is no hurried endeavor. You cannot rush out for a basketful for a quick breakfast on-the-go. No. This is not "fast food."Finding those dark jewels requires time. You must have patience, a slow pace, and a deep, alert gaze.You walk slowly, peering into the shadows with expectation, pausing at each possibility. You let your eyes adjust and peer further. Crouch in the moss to see lower, deeper. And those berries seem to appear gently out of the lush green landscape. You find a safe footing, between brambles, reach slowly and carefully, pull gently. Yes. An unprompted gratitude fills you - here, in the untilled garden of nature, these sweet fruits feed and delight (dandelion and chicory and plantain feed, but cannot fill us with such delight).Once you know what is open to you, what is possible, you will risk the buzzing insects and scratching thorn to gather those elusive jewels. You will return to the same area of the forest where you saw the red promise to gather the purple harvest. Your success, as limited as it might be, will encourage you to explore other areas of the woods, in the hope of similar - or even better - results. This, in turn, can open you to even more possibilities, and the realization that there are exponentially greater possibilities than you imagined at your first foraging experiment.And no matter how many you manage to gather, there are always a few just out of reach.Because in this life, we can never "gather it all in" in prayer. But we can invest the time and patient effort to peer past the dark shadow and thorn of our inmost selves to see what is offered to us.We can - and should - prepare ourselves and quiet ourselves to receive all that He gives."Be still and know that I am God." ~ Psalm 46:10