*Behind the Mulberry Bush*

A mulberry is a tropical plant that is fast-growing when young, but soon becomes slow-growing as it gets older. It also changes color as it blooms from one season to another, starting out as white/pale yellow with pink edges, then gets red when it ripens, and then changes from dark purple to black (you guys must know wikipedia is my friend...lol). But I'll get to the inspiration of this post in a quick minute.

"She was a little girl in the suburbs. She lived in a house a little distant from town, where there were little mulberry bushes growing all around. She usually played this little game with herself, pretending to be hiding behind a mulberry bush and taking little peaks into the world all around her. She skipped along the road so many times and found several mulberry bushes along the way where she could hide behind and watch passers-by. The first time, she hid behind a mulberry with red leaves and peaked...and amusingly she saw a very young couple, seemed like they just got married because they couldn't stop giving each other naughty looks like they were love-sick puppies, and everytime they glanced at each other tiny smiles formed on their lips, even as they walked down the street.

One year later, this little girl hiding behind the same mulberry bush saw the same couple, and this time they were bickering at each other and disagreeing about a particular issue. There were little frowns on each of their faces.

Three years down the line, this little girl went back to that same bush, and she saw the same couple walking down the street. This time they had a little baby stroller and both of them were smiling at the baby."

So much for forming a story around a mulberry bush (lol). The point here is that I've come to the realization that as life goes on, little secrets of life are unfolded one by one. Sometimes things get ugly, and at other times they are extremely beautiful. Sometimes we laugh and sometimes we cry. Sometimes we embrace and at other times we refrain from embracing. Sometimes we plant and sometimes we uproot what we planted. Sometimes we build and at other times we tear down what we so beautifully constructed (Ecclesiastes 3). But as God's children we have to be totally dependent on God in knowing the right time for everything. Also, if we are totally reliant on our Father, then the not-too-cool circumstances of our lives will not cause us to stumble in our walk. We'll keep moving, pushing, and running to the end of the track for our Olympic medals.

As I found out this morning while reading revelation 10, there are even some secret things that will not be revealed until the very end of times...according to a vision seen by one of the disciples of Jesus, John...

"Then I saw a mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire...when he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, "seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered and do not write them"...but in the days of the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be finished..."

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There are so many questions many of us may have about the existence of this world, about why crazy things happen, about the mysteries of the gates of heaven and hell, and about our lives and the journey of life itself. But there are some secrets that are being saved until the very end, when the mystery will be unveiled. It may sound so cliche, but its true. God Himself told John not to write certain things down in Revelation, because it is not the right time to know. As God's child though, He will definitely reveal His secrets to you, but little by little, as time goes on (so that you won't be completely clueless): Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."

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So to every thing there is a time. To everything there is a season. Hiding behind the mulberry bush may take a little girl many years to peak through to see the world, but one day the full mystery of life will be revealed to her. She can start by learning about the world in bits and pieces...

"Never disregard the bits and pieces of your hearing of the word of God. At the right time, you will understand"