The Burning Bush that Bore Blueberries

Everyone is familiar with Moses of the Old Testament. Most notably his encounter with the burning bush. It is said that God communicated with Moses through this burning bush. It's difficult to imagine God setting a bush on fire to get someones attention. Why a shrub? The fire aspect I can understand. Fire is something that commands attention. No one can ignore or walk away from a fire of any size. Maybe Moses wouldn't have paid much attention to just a plain talking bush. Maybe God has to use extreme measures in order to get through to some people. I think if that had happened to me I would have fainted. Luckily everyone gets their own individualized "burning bush". For me it was a blueberry bush and I was about twelve years old.

The Island
I was twelve when our family first summered on Martha's Vineyard. It was an exciting time for us. My father had landed a long range job on the vineyard over the winter before. In order to economically live on the island and come home on the weekend my dad transplanted our hard top Nomad camper there in October. When summer rolled around we were all set up for instant vacation. Luckily my dad's job had continued and when school let out we all joined him at the Martha's Vineyard Family Campground. It was a wonderful opportunity to have a summer long camping trip on an island that we had never visited before. It was beautiful. We lived at the beach during the day and returned to the campsite every evening. My mom became a professional Coleman Stove cook and each meal was a hearty one. We didn't live on hot dogs and hamburgers. My mom somehow continued her home cooking tradition of family style meals. Dad enjoyed a real meal at the end of a workday complete with dessert and mom never let him down. We were a bunch of happy barefoot kids.

Church
Vacation from home never meant vacation from church, though. Whenever we went anywhere one of the first things my father did was scout out the nearest Catholic Church. On Sunday mornings we had to be freshly scrubbed and nicely clothed from stem to stern and ready for church by 9:30 A.M. After knocking the sand out of our ears we were expected to use them to listen and participate in the mass. My father was a very big "Jesus" person which is not to be confused with "Jesus Freak". He was always on a spiritual quest and he liked to have company. Some of his home sermons in my opinion rivaled Reverend Billy Graham. I would know too, because when the Reverend Graham was on my dad was tuned in. We were a one television set family way back then just like many of the homes of that era. We were tortured regularly with many religious themed shows. I can't even speak about Lawrence Welk which was not religious but right up there with them. Once the bubbles went away my eyes would just glaze over. My dad often spoke of the wonder of God's creations. He loved nature and Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom was another of his favorites. It was difficult to watch a lion take down a zebra and feel good about God's creatures. Something was always being rendered from limb to limb while the old man with the white hair cal my narrated the scene. The show would end and my father would talk about how God set up the earth in such a way that everything and everyone got fed and taken care of. As youngster I remember watching that show through my splayed fingers. I'd try to send telepathic messages to the unsuspecting young elk that I just knew God was setting up to become a Tiger's dinner. I wasn't walking away with a "God is good" feeling after that. I was young. I still had much to learn about the earth and God.

Rain
One week on the island it rained and hard for almost a full week. There was quite a storm. Lots of wind and thunder and lightening. It was a bit scary sleeping in a sardine can with lightening striking all around and wondering if a tree as about to fall on us. My father, ever the faithful, encouraged us to "offer it up" and pray the rosary and believe God was taking care of us. I remember furiously fingering the beads and whipping out the Hail Mary's for all I was worth. It was terrifying to be that out in the open in such a storm. I consoled myself more with the fact that we had two rubber wheels on our camper than with the protection God was giving us. Wasn't the storm coming from heaven ville? In my mind God lived up there and I wondered if He was playing Tiger and we were young Elks? I liked my limbs attached firmly to my center. Large, swaying, creaking pine trees did not thrill me either. To my great relief the sun broke through the clouds very early in the morning. I was sick of rain and being in damp quarters. I slipped out of the camper while people were still sleeping. I breathed in the clean fresh air and felt light and happy.

The Blueberry Bush
It was quiet and I slipped on my flip flops and decided to take a walk around the campsite. I liked the stillness and the newness that I felt all around me after that violent storm. It was a feeling now that I can identify as peace. At that young age I didn't quite know what it was but it was leading me around by the nose, literally. Everything smelled so good. I knew the wild blueberries were ripe. The surrounding wooded area was loaded with native blueberry bushes. I grabbed a Cool Whip container, (poor man's Tupperware) and headed for the hills. I loved being almost the only one stirring in the campsite. I entered the woods just a little way in. The bushes were everywhere so, I didn't have to go far. The sun had just started to filter in through the leaves. Shafts of light were hitting the blueberry bushes as if to spotlight their perfection. They were beautiful. I had never thought of a bush or much of any natural thing before as beautiful. Kids don't usually notice stuff like that. I approached a bush ready to start picking because I knew if I came home with a container of blueberries I was going to get some blueberry pancakes for breakfast. My mom was that predictable and I was taking full advantage because I love blueberry pancakes! There was something about the way the sun was streaming down in little ribbons and illuminating the rain droplets on the blueberry bush that stopped me from just ravaging it. I was taken in by how the sun had turned each drop of water into a prism. The leaves were dappled here and there with faint colors. The tiny berries were glistening accentuating their deep blue color. I wondered why this bush was mesmerizing me. In my reverie a thought came into my mind. "God created this". That was it. Nothing caught on fire. No booming voice. I didn't walk away with anything written in stone. As I began to pick the blueberries I thought of the ferocious storm the night before. "God created that, too", another unbidden thought just filtered in like a ray of sunshine. I kept picking and thoughts kept just quite naturally occurring. I started to think about God. I wasn't in church or holding beads. Billy Graham was probably still asleep somewhere. I was awake though. I was spiritually awake at the age of twelve. At that moment in the stillness of a blueberry patch I knew God was no longer up there. He was down here now with me. He was in the blueberry bushes, He had been in the storm, He was the creator of that big blue ocean that I had been swimming in everyday. He was real!

The Ocean
After devouring the delicious blueberry pancakes that mom so graciously prepared we packed up for a day at the beach. After all that rain we couldn't wait to get there. The ocean was especially rough due to the previous night's storm. There were huge clam shells on the beach. My dad told me they were sea clams and they are usually quite deep but the surge threw them up onto the sand. Many were cracked open and their deep orange insides were exposed. I threw some back in the ocean thinking I was saving them. Then I dove in for a swim. I had to get accustomed to swimming at South Beach. You have to dive into a wave in order to get past the current. I was enjoying the refreshing water and still thinking about God. The ocean was so big and held so much. I remember thinking that God had to have created everything. Then a huge undertow dragged me down and sucked me out further than I normally went swimming. As fast as I was tugged under I found myself rolling over and over like a barrel under the water. I felt the sand filling my ears and my bathing suit. I thought I was never going to break the surface again. Irony of all ironies I was going to drown on the day I found God in a blueberry bush. Just when I thought my lungs would burst I was thrown up by sea onto the sand. I lay there sputtering a bit, choking out sand and sea water. My hair was fully encrusted and caked with it. My bathing suit bottoms barely in place due the weight of the sand that had filled them. I emptied them out the best I could. Shook my hair out and felt globs of it falling down my back. I faced one of God's most breathtaking creations and felt very small but not insignificant. Still grinding sand in my teeth I dove back into a wave. I didn't want to be afraid of the ocean. I felt as though God was still showing me Himself in that frightening experience. I was aware of God in nature and in people from that day on. He showed me the gentleness of His presence in the blueberry bush. He also showed me His power and His might in the ocean. I realized that He actually knew me. I was twelve and I became aware of God's presence. Some people think they "find" God after working very hard looking for Him. I can honestly say I wasn't looking for Him. For some reason on that day God found me right where I was. My burning bush bore blueberries.