There is a berry that grows on the Canadian prairies: the Saskatoon berry. For all practical purposes, it looks like a blueberry. Looks, is where the comparison ends, however, because they are meatier and less juicy—more like moist cake than mush. Even my blueberry-hating son loves them!

Being from Europe and having lived for 36 years in Ontario, in the eastern part of Canada, I didn’t have my first introduction to Saskatoons until the summer of 2022. My wife and I had towed our little trailer from Ontario to a tiny town in Alberta, Canada, known as Vegreville, which is only about an hour’s drive east of Edmonton, where our son and daughter-in-law live.

All of the campsites in this campground were surrounded by bushy greenery. The plants were too tall to be bushes, but far too bushy to be trees! And they were loaded with these blackish-blue berries that looked, for all the world, like blueberries. My wife, being the more adventurous spirit when it comes to wild berries, quickly learned that the berries were edible. She spent almost all of our free time in this little campground picking berries. It was the first time we had ever eaten Saskatoon berries—and we were hooked!

Of course, in 2022, neither my wife nor I ever imagined we would one day live on the Canadian prairies. In fact, I had often declared the area unfit for human habitation due to the extreme cold. Nonetheless, this is now the province we call “home” (and that is a subject for next week’s devotional!). As this—our first summer in the Edmonton, Alberta, region—came on, my wife began to remember the delicious Saskatoon berries we had picked in Vegreville four years earlier. She was overwhelmed with a sudden desire to find that campground and pick a couple of buckets full of Saskatoons.

Unfortunately, neither my wife nor I can remember the name of that particular campground, nor can we definitively identify it on a map. My wife was thoroughly disappointed—especially since such delicacies don’t seem to make it to the local farmer’s markets or grocery stores.

One day, however, as my wife was walking along the river trail behind her townhouse complex, she spotted a small bush full of blackish-blue berries. She moved in for a closer inspection. Not wanting to take a chance on eating something she wasn’t 100% sure about, she pulled out Google Lens. When the app verified what she suspected, she dove in. Right there on the river trail was a small bush of Saskatoon berries!

It wasn’t many days, however, before that bush was bare. Apparently, other trail-walkers also enjoyed wild Saskatoons! My wife kept an eye out for more bushes, but found none—until several days later when she saw someone off the trail picking and eating berries. After that, she found at least ten or more bushes—some of them as tall as trees—loaded with meaty berries.

All that time, she had been longing for something that was right there and free for the taking!

Isn’t this how it is with the human heart?

—Our hearts long for God: “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” (Psalm 63:1, NIV)

—We seek Him everywhere. We even try to go back to where we may have encountered Him before. The prophet Hosea explains this in a way my wife could understand: “When they go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord, they will not find him…” (Hosea 5:6, NIV). She tried to go back to where she had found the Saskatoon berries before, but she couldn’t even find the spot! So often we try to return to the church where we grew up—but it’s no longer there. Or we long to talk to a grandparent who once taught us about Jesus—but they are no longer here. And so, we seek, but we do not find.

Meanwhile, God is all around us! The Bible says of Jesus: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20, NIV)

Just like there were Saskatoon berries in abundance along the trail my wife normally walks, God is there—all around us—just waiting for us to turn to Him!

Why don’t we see Him? The answer lies in Deuteronomy 4:29: “But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (NIV) We need to seek Him with all of our being—and when we do, He will be found!

Are you seeking God but not finding Him? We’d love to help—reach out anytime.

Oh, and if you want to find Saskatoon berries in abundance along the Sturgeon River Trail… just ask my wife!

Inspired by Rob Chaffart
Founder, Answers2Prayer Ministries