A farmer friend allowed me to pick wild black raspberries on his property. These bushes love to grow and produce on the very edge of the woods, which his farm has a lot of.

            At first, I thought I was a week early and only found a few berries. Then I moved to another area and the bushes were full of ripe and ripening berries.

            The first berries I picked went into my mouth, so I could savor the taste. Then I started picking in earnest, thinking I could take some home in my container and put on ice cream. Soon, however, my picking became an obsession.

            There were berries well into the briars, but I went after them anyway, often snagging my clothing. I climbed through poison ivy as well. Thankfully I have been immune to poison ivy since childhood, but not to the mosquitoes that found my blood very sweet. At one point I was even stung by a wasp, but I kept on. When the container was full, I regretted that I could not just go on and on.

            Was it the treasure that so motivated me or simply the quest itself? I guess we have to be careful what we allow to so overtake our efforts.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,

which a person finds and hides again,

and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

Matthew 13:44