Though she had never been there before, blueberries are by far her favorite food and she will eat them until she is sick if allowed. It was just Annie and me, with our buckets, headed out to a local farmer's u-pick patch to marvel at the blueberries and bring in the harvest.
On the way there, I reminded her that we do not eat blueberries while we pick. Instead we have to weigh them, pay for them, and then we can munch on them in the car. I know eating is allowed at this patch, but I want my children to learn that farmers fields are like grocery stores. (Nothing irritates me more than tourists who pull off to the side of the road and steal fruit out of a farmer's orchard. So we emphasize respecting farmer's and their harvest in our family.)
When we got to the patch, Annie was absolutely delightful! She had fellow pickers laughing at her quips about the "blueberry jungle" and how she found some "perfectly delicious blueberries that were just right!" She never ate a single blueberry in the field even though everyone else around us was. She was polite and kind and filled with joy. One berry at a time, she put them in her little bucket to enjoy later. My heart overflowed with love for this little girl who couldn't have been more happy or well-behaved.
When we went to pay, she was given a little box for her tiny haul, which I handed to her after she was all buckled up in the car. On the way home we were chatting and I encouraged her to eat while we talked. But then I noticed in my review mirror that she had stopped. I reminded her that they were all hers to eat and she should enjoy them after she worked so hard. And she pointed out that I wasn't eating all of mine because I was going to share them with the family. Annie said, "I want to be like you, Mommy, so I'm going to share the rest of mine with my brothers and sister!"
My little girl had her favorite food in front of her. She had worked hard to pick out every single perfect berry. Her total haul consisted of no more than 50 or so berries, and while her belly would have loved to gobble them all up, her desire to be like me outweighed the desires of her flesh.
Annie took immense joy in spending time with me that afternoon. She loved to work hard and did a good job picking only the berries that were big and ripe. She never ate a single berry while we were picking, because I asked her not to. She enjoyed chatting and laughing while we worked, and she mimicked all of my behaviors because the desires of her heart to be like her mom outweighed her selfish desires. She also shared her tiny harvest with all of her siblings.
How often do we enjoy spending time alone with God? How often do we work hard for God even when no one else is looking? How often do we resist following the crowd and do what God asks instead? How often do we enjoy just communicating with Him and reading His Word? How often do we cast aside our selfish desires simply to please our Father in Heaven as we attempt to be more like Him?
I suppose Annie wasn't the only one who learned a lesson in the blueberry patch yesterday.
1 John 2:6 "Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did."
