Yesterday was my day off. I started out by mowing, then moved on to some other outside tasks. Finally, just before I went inside for my shower, I went raspberry picking. We have a lot of wild raspberry bushes in the fence-row and woods behind our house. The reason I waited til last was because of the poison ivy.

It seems that wherever there are raspberries there is poison ivy. Whenever I spray the poison ivy, the raspberries die. So I have to wade through thick poison ivy to get to the berries. Now that I think of it, there’s a life lesson in that. You have to wade through the negative stuff to get to the positive stuff.

You have to sow before you can reap. You have to ask before you can receive. You have to be in bondage before you can be delivered. You have to be lost before you can be found. The berries taste sooo good, but I had to risk the poison ivy to get to them.

God’s blessings are rich, but we’ve got to take some risks to make them ours. God’s promises are sure!

Tags: danger, gain, risks