You Want Me To Blog About Blueberries?

Blueberries. That’s what I heard one Saturday morning as sipped my coffee, soaked up the sunrise and journaled my prayers.  If I’m being honest,  I already had in my head what I was going to write in my blog, but thought it would be good to double check and run my idea by God. Ya know, make sure he is on the same page as me, not if I am on the same page as him.  How many times do I find myself doing that? Already making up in my mind how something will look or what I should do and then almost as a common courtesy making sure God is aligned with my plan? That’s dangerous.

Um, What?! I began to question this response. Am I hearing blueberries because it’s Saturday morning and I haven’t had breakfast? Could be. Is it because earlier in the week someone tried to use a blueberry pancake recipe to pick me up? Might be. I was confused and went about my prayers with blueberries in the back of my mind.Saturday night, I visited my neighbor’s house for a jewelry party. At this party, I met another neighbor selling makeup. She mentioned her boyfriend sold a product that was full of blueberries.

Blueberries.

There it is again. I excitedly asked her if she could write down the product. When I got home that night I googled this product to do some research. It was indeed packed full of blueberries, but I was still stumped. Why would God want me to write about this product?

This stumped feeling stumbled into Sunday. My sister hadn’t been to my church in a while. She lives 45 minutes away and with a baby and an earlier church time she was finding it challenging to make it up to my neck of the woods to worship. However, this Sunday I was pleasantly surprised to see her stroll in and sit down.

We always grab a bite to eat after church as our Sunday tradition and this Sunday was no different. Before we went our separate ways, I just felt like I had to spill the blueberries. I told her how God told me to write about blueberries, but it wasn’t making any sense to me.

She stared at me, wide-eyed, and said, “I have a blueberry story for you.”

She began to tell me about a story about Mr. Vollmer, a business man making a presentation to teachers about how he uses only the premium blueberries in his product.

If a blueberry isn’t up to his standards he discards it. Tosses it out. Rids himself of the unsatisfactory fruit.

Only the best blueberries make it in his ice cream. The story goes on to explain how teachers don’t have the same choice in the classroom. They must accept blueberries just as they are small, big, poor, abused, frightened, rude, and brilliant. They take every single one of them. There isn’t a selection process. There isn’t a list of requirements the children must meet to be welcomed into their environment.

My jaw dropped as I realized this is exactly how God sees His children.

You may think you are a broken, beat-up, bruised and burdened blueberry but God will never discard you or send you back. He accepts His blueberries just as they are. He beckons His blueberries to come to him. Because in God’s eyes you are the best, most brilliant, blueberry out there. He believes in His blueberries. 

I thought I finally had my story to share so that Sunday afternoon I was going to write the evolution of the word blueberry over the course of a weekend. Instead of heading to my normal coffee shop, I decided to sit outside at my apartment and soak up the sun while I brainstormed about a blueberry blog . Before I ventured outside, my friend was going to give me a call to specifically talk about this bizarre blueberry story that became too weird to text.  A story this odd could only be told over the phone.

As I sat down, a neighbor came over and asked to sit at my table. In a few minutes, two more guys joined the group and I began to get nervous. Any moment my friend was going to call me to hear the blueberry story and these strangers were about to get more than they bargained for by sitting near me. Before the thought even finished playing in my mind, my phone rang and I began sharing the story of how blueberries blazed a trail in my life.

During the phone call, the guys began to laugh. I don’t blame them. At this point, I must sound like the silliest stranger they ever listened to. My friend had to jump off the phone and I returned to the echoing laughter surrounding me.

Hesitantly, I was asked, “Do you really believe God can talk to you like that?”

I used to think I God’s voice was only reserved for the select few, but now I believe God is talking to every single one of us. It just depends if we have ears to hear and if the noise of the world is drowning out the faint voice of God. We began a journey talking about faith, skateboarding and everything in between for over two hours.

All because of blueberries.

Saturday morning I started with one word and by Sunday evening I had an entire story. I doubted God really wanted me to write about blueberries. I just couldn’t see it myself, but He did and now here I am crafting a story about blueberries and the adventure they took me on over the course of a weekend. It didn’t stop there. I continued to share the blueberry story with anybody willing to listen. Blueberries, y’all. I don’t think I’ll ever look at them the same. I don’t know what will be next, but I’m ready to embrace it with open arms and an open heart.   All blueberries are blessings to God.

Embrace the beautiful blueberry you were created to be.