Bright and early Saturday morning hubby and I were cruising down the valley headed to our Forestry Field Day event. As we drove past the U-Pick Raspberry farm we were startled to notice the parking area was already packed! At 8:00am!
That’s the field where hubby and I usually pick each summer. If it’s already packed that early, then there’s no way the field will have enough berries for all the people who will want to be picking that day. For sure the field will be picked out by noon.
Thankfully hubby and I won’t have to join the crowds of berry-picking enthusiasts this year. This year our raspberries vines actually have enough raspberries for us to pick in our own backyard. Yay!
So, Sunday afternoon hubby and I grabbed our little blue cereal bowls and headed out to pick raspberries!
We discovered, much to our surprise, that our raspberries aren’t anything at all like the raspberries at the U-Pick farm down in the valley. In fact, our raspberries aren’t anything at all like what “normal” raspberries are supposed to be. Check it out …
Our raspberries are very small … about 1/3 the size of “normal” raspberries.
Our raspberries are also a completely different color. Our raspberries are a deep burgundy color … rather than the beautiful rosy, mauve color which “normal” raspberries are.
Furthermore, our raspberries are distinctly sticky! “Normal” raspberries aren’t sticky at all. “Normal” raspberries have more of a matte texture. But our raspberries have a sticky “grab” to them. This stickiness leaves your fingers all sticky. And when you try to wash it off with soap and water it doesn’t really work. You more or less have to scrub the sticky off with the hand towel.
And the flavor is completely different. “Normal” raspberries have the distinctly sweet “raspberry” flavor. Our raspberries, on the other hand, don’t have that flavor at all. I can’t exactly pinpoint the flavor. It’s much more mild. And tart. It’s not the “normal” flavor you would expect.
Clearly hubby and I have a completely different variety of raspberry than the “normal” kind.
What variety do we have??
We don’t have a clue.
We purchased up our raspberry starts in February of 2022. It had been such a long cold winter and hubby and I were desperate for Spring to arrive. Home Depot was selling little cardboard tubes with raspberry starts in the foyer entryway … and that for sure was a sign that Spring was near! So hubby and I picked up 3 or 4 little cardboard tubes.
Inside the little cardboard tube was nothing but a tiny bare twig, with a few bare roots.
Here you can see the little bare raspberry twig later that summer, as tiny little leaves began to emerge.
I’m sure the little cardboard tube indicated the variety of the raspberry. But hubby and I didn’t pay any attention to the label. After all, raspberries are raspberries.
But now we are realizing that different varieties are indeed truly different and unique!
Do you ever feel like you are a “raspberry” which doesn’t fit what “normal” is supposed to look like? Everywhere we turn, we are bombarded with advertisements of what “normal” is supposed to look like.
If we are “normal” then we will be this particular size and shape.
If we are “normal” then we will have this particular lifestyle.
If we are “normal” then we will have this particular career trajectory.
If we are “normal” then our kids will look this way.
If we are “normal” then we will use these products.
It’s just like this “normal” raspberry right here … this is what “normal” is supposed to look like!
Nice large berry.
Beautiful rosy, mauve color.
Matte texture. (not sticky!)
“Normal” sweet raspberry flavor.
But the thing is … most of us aren’t “normal.”
Most of us are more like the unknown-variety raspberries growing in mine and hubby’s garden.
We don’t at all fit the expectations of what “normal” is supposed to look like.
Here you can see what a “normal” box of “normal” raspberries looks like.
At any U-Pick Raspberry farm, you can pick this exact type of “normal” raspberries.
Furthermore, if you go to Costco to get raspberries, or the grocery store to get raspberries … this is the exact type of “normal” raspberries you will get. This is “normal.” This is what is expected.
But the thing is … most of us wind up with a life that looks a lot more like this:
Hubby’s and my raspberry harvest yielded two little blue cereal bowls and one small plastic storage container. It doesn’t look anything at all like what “normal” is supposed to look like.
And I can totally understand why mine and hubby’s raspberries are not commercially marketable in the way “normal” raspberries are. Due to our variety being so sticky, when you pick them into a little blue cereal bowl, all the berries stick together into one big clump. If you try to jostle the container to separate the clump, it will only result in the berries tearing.
These berries have to be handled a lot more carefully. Delicately.
As I was pondering on these things, it occurred to me that hubby’s and my variety of raspberries are in fact more special than the “normal” raspberries. Think about it … when do you ever get a chance to taste a different variety of raspberry? I certainly never have. The only variety of raspberry I have ever eaten has been the “normal” kind.
So … having the chance to experience, and taste, and handle a completely different type of raspberry … this is a one-of-a-kind, unique, special opportunity!
These raspberries of ours are in fact super special! Because they are super unique!
Every person is just like mine and hubby’s raspberries! Every . single . person is created by God unique!
YOU.
You are super special! Because you are super unique!
Society will tell us that we all have to fit the same standard of “normal.” Everywhere we turn, advertisement bombarding will convince us that we aren’t “good enough” if we don’t fit the standard of “normal.”
But we are each as individual and unique and mine and hubby’s raspberries!
We look at ourselves and notice that our raspberry coloring is deep burgundy, instead of rosy, mauve. And we feel like we aren’t “good enough.”
You are special! You are one-of-a-kind!
Delight in the fact that God made you specially unique!
We look at ourselves and notice that our size and shape isn’t “normal.” And we feel like we aren’t “good enough.”
No … you are exactly who God made you to be! You are terrific just the way God made you!
Our personality “flavor” isn’t what “normal” is supposed to be. And we feel like we aren’t “good enough.”
God gave you your personality “flavor” on purpose! You bring something to the world that no one else can! Delight in that! Use your “flavor” to “flavor” your world in your own unique and special way!
Hubby’s and my raspberries are sticky and, as such, have to be handled carefully!
Every person is delicate. Every person’s heart must be handled carefully!
You are special! You are one-of-a-kind!
“You are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works [aka: bear fruit!], which God prepared in advance for us to do.” – Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
“You are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” – Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)
Grow your heart out! Because you are special!
You bring something to this world no one else can!
