The Motherload

The other day I went Blueberry picking with my roommate and her friend. I don't know how many of you have ever gone blueberry picking before, but it's super fun! And quite therapeutic, I might add.

Well, we set off early in the morning and got our buckets and headed out to the field. We each had a HUGE bucket - we were told they could hold up to 15 lbs of blueberries - and began the task of plucking the bushes for the ripest, bluest blueberries.

Well, I found one bush, and I thought, "Wow! This is a really great shrubbery! I think I'll stick with this one for a while.." Well, about an hour went by and I was still plucking at this one shrub. I couldn't help but think to myself, "Man, this has to be the BEST shrub in the field! I can't leave it! I probably won't find another one better."

So, I continued to toss the berries into my bucket, and I noticed my 15 lb Blueberry bucket was about One-Third of the way full. I began to wonder how my comrades were doing.

Soon after, my roommate came over to me and asked me how I had been faring - as I started to reply "Very well! Couldn't be better!" I stopped in mid sentence. What I saw in her arms was not only a 15 lb Blueberry bucket FULL to the brim, but it was full with the most plump and ripe blueberries I had seen yet!

I looked down at what I now saw as a very sad looking bucket of berries and thought, "Wow. I could have done so much better." My roommate just chuckled at my sad excuse for blueberries and led me back to what she called the "Motherload".

And then I thought again....how often I do this in real life! I get stuck on one thing - I think it's the best thing ever and nothing could be better, so I don't move on. I don't look to see if perhaps there are other options, other possibilities (other shrubberies) that could blow that one out of the water.

Perhaps it's that one relationship you thought would last forever - but maybe God has someone better out there for you, hmm?

Perhaps it's that job you think you want so badly - but maybe God has something different in mind. Something better...

Sometimes, I think we get such tunnel vision that we don't look around. We get stuck in a rut that says "I have to have this because it's the best!" Or "I have to do this because..." or "I need that relationship - there is no one better!"

There is a difference between persevering through something that requires endurance, and wasting your time on something that is mediocre. Don't get stuck on one shrub. Look around.

Maybe, what you think is best, is really only "good". Maybe the best is yet to be found.

Maybe you have yet to find the Motherload.