No not the electronic kind, the real blackberries. The wild kind you go out and pick. Last week Amy, Andrew, and I went blackberry picking with my my niece Melanie, Amy’s niece Rachel and her husband Brandon, and Amy’s parents on a large plot of family land. There is a simple lesson that we can learn from such and
Andrew, Rachel, Brandon, Scott (me), and Melanie ride on the back of Gran-Gran's truck while moving to the next patch of berries.
adventure: The fruits of labor are worth the effort. Needless to say, July in Alabama is hot, and we perspired while gathering our berries. We had to fight off insects, thorns, and watch for snakes – no one saw a snake, but everyone found thorns and all of us have a few bug bites. But what we really came away with was a mess of black berries. Amy, Andrew, and I are on our third or fourth cobbler!
What is true in picking berries is true in marriage, friendships, and in the walk of Christianity — The end result is worth the effort I put forth. If I want a great marriage, I will work for a great marriage. If I want healthy friendships, I will put in the effort to be a friend. If I love God, I will serve Him knowing my labor is not in vain (1 Cor 15:57-58). To quote Albus Dumbledore “We all have to choose whether we will do what is right or what is easy.”
Driving Thought 
A comment from Darlene on Facebook – “Brings back memories of picking blackberries on Innerarity Point. But it is hard to believe my friend and I would spend hours in the heat, but we did not give them to my Mom to cook. We put them in jars and waited at the foot of the Canal bridge and when the draw-bridge went up we would sell those blackberries for very little money and then ran to the store to buy a coke and candy. We would then start all over.