The Gifts You've Already Gathered

From This Week's Love Letter

Dear Friend,

I believe that gathering wild berries is one of the most joyful activities in the world.

If you know where to look, you will come across a beautiful plant offering you a gift—and often, handfuls of gifts.

Nothing makes me feel richer than standing in a thick patch of blackberries, basket slowly filling with the ripest berries, hands stained purple, arms snagged by thorns. There is something deeply satisfying about gathering food the earth has freely offered.

One of the things I love most about blackberry patches is that they begin announcing themselves long before the fruit appears.

In spring, the vines are covered in clusters of delicate white blossoms. Whenever I find one, I make a mental note to return later in the season. Those little flowers become a lesson in patience. I know that, given enough sunshine and enough time, they will become fruit.

Wild blackberries don't ask anything of us. They don't need pruning or watering or careful tending. They simply grow.

Our gifts are often much the same.

The qualities that come most naturally to us are easy to overlook because they've always been there. We assume everyone sees what we see. We forget that what feels effortless to us may be deeply nourishing to someone else.

This week, Blackberry invites you to look around your own life with the eyes of a gatherer.

What gifts have been growing inside of us all along?

What strengths have become so familiar that you've stopped noticing them?

What relationships, places, experiences, or wisdom are already here, waiting to be gathered?

You may discover that your basket is far fuller than you imagined.

With love,

Carrie

What comes so naturally to you that it no longer feels like work?

I'd love to hear your reflections in the comments below.