The Huckleberry Bush

I apologize for the absence of updates on my blog recently. I know you’ve heard this before but I’ll try to be better :P

Almost a century ago in a place not very far from where YOU are, there was a little girl that lived alone with her Dad. The little girl (which we will call Sarah for ease of writing) was her Father’s joy, and very rarely did he have occasion to be upset with her.
One day, Sarah went for a walk over by their garden with her Dad, all the while planning what the garden would look like later in the year.
“We’re going to have a wonderful garden this year, Father!”, she exclaimed.
“Yes Sarah, I believe you will do a wonder with these plants. But beware of the poisonous huckleberry bush, it’s beautiful…but deadly. If it ever grows in your garden, make sure you uproot it as soon as you find it. Search your garden often to see if this weed is growing, for it has no place there.”
“Don’t worry Father, I will”, Sarah answered.
Days and weeks went by and if you would have seen that garden, you wouldn’t have recognized the place. There were tomatoes and broccoli and peppers and well…almost every vegetable you can imagine growing inside. Evidently, Sarah had done an excellent job keeping up the garden.
A few days later, Sarah walked to her garden and looked it over as her Father had instructed her to do. She had almost finished, when she came upon a small plant that she had never seen before. The colors on its leaves were golden and it was beautiful. Her Father’s words echoed in her ears, “…beware of the poisonous huckleberry bush, it’s beautiful…but deadly…”. Sarah knew what she had to do. She went over to the shed and got a shovel. She pointed it at the ground just in front of the plant, and was just about to jump on it, when someone shouted,
“Hey!”
The little girl said, “Huh?”…..
“Hey you”, the voice said again. The girl looked down and said,
“Plant? You talk?” The plant answered,
“Yeah, what do you stink? Haven’t you ever heard that talking to your plants was good for them? Well plants talking to you is even better.”
“Wow. I’ve never met a talking plant before.”
“Hey sweety I’ll cut you a deal. If you put that shovel down, I’ll keep talking.”
“I’m gonna uproot you.” the girl said.
“Why would you do that?” the plant asked.
“My Father told me you were poisonous, and I believe him.”
“Well your Father’s a good guy I’m sure, but did he also tell you that plants could talk, you know what I mean?”
“No, I guess He didn’t” she replied.
“When I get bigger, you can hide in my branches, my leaves are soft and cuddly, and did I mention the smell? No one can beat that smell!” By this time the girl had pretty much forgotten her father’s instruction.

Things passed by normally, or so it seemed to anyway, until one day when the girl went to look at her garden…
“Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed. The “little” plant that did not seem like anything much, had grown into a huge, disgusting looking thing that had taken over the whole garden. The pollen from the plant was making her eyes itch because it was poisonous. She ran over to the shed and came back running with an axe (which is not a safe thing to do BTW :P).
“Aaaahhhhhh! What are you going to do with that?” the plant asked Sarah.
“I’m going to chop you down. Here goes!” She swung and the axe just bounced of the trunk of the plant, leaving it unharmed.
“You can’t get rid of me!!!!!” the plant yelled.
“I just have to swing harder,” Sarah said. She swung again with all her might but she didn’t harm the plant one bit.
In desperation, she grabbed the plant by her bare hands and tried to pull it out. After several failed attempts, she fell to the ground, to weak to get up. She started to cry. Hearing his daughter crying, her Father came to see what the matter was.
“Look Father,” she said. “You told me to never let the huckleberry bush grow, but I did it anyways. Now it has taken over the whole garden and I can’t get rid of it. Can you get rid of it for me Father?”
“I’m sorry Sarah, you can’t get rid of him anymore,” her Father said.
“Then what am I going to do?” she asked.
“You could build a fence around it,” he suggested. “Would you like my help?”
“Yes Father! Yes I would like your help!”
The Father and daughter together built a solid fence around the plant.
“Now you must never let this fence get run down, or the plant will once again rule the garden,” the Father said.
“Don’t worry Father I will!”


The girl had learned an important lesson, one that I think we also need to learn. Sin can look very attractive, but the end result is always pain. That is all for right now. I have to go cut grass.

God Bless!

Kevin