The Cranberry Village
- Kelly Venturo
- Aug 15
- 5 min read
Updated: Oct 9
Chapter 2: The most important thing; the story of Whisk the squirrel
In the little village of Cranberry by the sparkling Cranberry bog, there is a squirrel who lives in a hollow tree. His name is Whisk, and if you ever visit the Cranberry Island yourself, you will see why. All day he scurries about from branch to branch in every tree, apparently very busy, though it is difficult to see what he is actually so busy about. He hurries frantically around the village, nibbling his little claws nervously and making little click-clack chattering noises with his teeth. And every so often, he stops, cocks his head to one side, twitches his ears, and says to himself, “What was I doing just now?” And when he remembers, he throws himself into it again with renewed energy.
For sometimes, Whisk himself doesn’t even know why he is so busy. And sometimes Whisk the squirrel is very silly. Once, when he was busy gathering nuts, Whisk convinced himself that there was a nut-thief around. Every morning and evening when he counted his supply of nuts, there were some missing. It wasn’t until he talked to the very nosy woolly bear caterpillar that shared his tree that he realized his mistake.
“The nuts you were missing,” the caterpillar explained, “were the ones you took for your own breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You are your nut-thief!”
Yes, sometimes Whisk can be very silly. And as he said once, not everybody is good with numbers.
But the silliest thing Whisk ever did was when he got himself so busy he didn’t have time for anyone else. Now the things he was so busy about were good. He was cleaning his little treehouse, and he was storing up nuts for the winter. He was helping other squirrels collect nuts, and he was helping old Mrs. Mole with her garden. In fact, whenever anybody needed help with anything, Whisk always offered himself up to do it. His whole house was covered with little notes-to-self and long lists labeled “Things to Do.” He got up before the sun and went to bed late at night. Many times he skipped breakfast; sometimes even his lunch.
And he only got busier! Soon Whisk didn’t have any time left to play with his other squirrel friends. Every day they begged him to come play with them, and he always said, “Oh no, not today – click-click – far too busy – click-click – maybe tomorrow?”
After a while, his friends gave up and played without him.
But the worst thing that happened was that Whisk no longer had any time for God.
One day, Whisk was wound up more tightly than usual. He scurried frantically through the trees with a little basket of nuts in his paws, clicking his teeth and muttering to himself, “So busy. Oh so busy – click-click – so many nuts to gather. Nuts, nuts, nuts? Click-click-click – what was I doing? Click.” He was tired and hungry, but he didn’t have time to rest or eat.
Deeper and deeper into the forest he hurried, going farther than he ever had before. And he was moving so quickly, and he was so exhausted and hungry that his foot caught on a tree root, and he fell. The basket flew from his hands and all the nuts he had worked so hard to gather scattered in a million directions.
Too tired to even get up, Whisk put his head in his arms and began to cry. Suddenly, Whisk felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see an old brown rabbit looking down at him with kind, concerned eyes.
“Are you all right, Whisk?” she asked. “It looks like you have had a bad fall.”
She reached out her hand and helped him to his feet. Whisk could do nothing except nod and sniffle and look around at his scattered nuts. The rabbit looked too.
“It also looks like you have been very busy lately,” she said.
“Yes,” said Whisk, “and now I’m – click-click – late, and I must gather all these nuts again – click – and I’m so busy!”
Whisk was about to burst into tears again.
“I see,” said the rabbit. “Do you know where you are?”
Whisk looked up. The warm afternoon sun shone down and reflected off thousands of glittering red jewels resting in the water, and Whisk knew that he had come to the enchanted cranberry bog, and that he had met Mrs. Cranberry, who sold delicious cranberry breads and jellies in the village. Just thinking about these foods made Whisk’s stomach rumble loud and long.
“When have you last eaten, Whisk?” Mrs. Cranberry asked gently.
Whisk hesitated. “It’s been a long time,” he admitted. “I’ve been so busy.”
“More importantly,” said Mrs. Cranberry, “when have you last spent time reading your Bible and praying to God?”
Whisk could not remember.
“Well,” said Mrs. Cranberry kindly, “never mind these nuts; we can pick them up later. For now we must find you something to eat, and I would like to tell you a little story.”
Then Whisk noticed a little cottage peeking out from under an old willow tree, and such an enticing warm sweet smell wafted from it into his nose that he could not protest. Mrs. Cranberry brought him a thick loaf of sweet brown bread, still warm from the oven and full of tart pockets of cranberries. Settling down in her rocking chair, Mrs. Cranberry said, “Now for our story.”
The Cranberry Secret: “Whisk, Whisk,” sighed Mrs. Cranberry. “‘You are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.’”
Do you know what Mrs. Cranberry was talking about? She was quoting what Jesus said in Luke 10:41, except that Jesus was talking to a girl named Martha. This girl, just like Whisk, needed to learn what the most important thing was. Martha was busy serving Jesus, and her sister Mary was listening to Jesus. When Martha complained, Jesus said that Mary had chosen to do the more important thing (Luke 10:38-42). Mrs. Cranberry explained to Whisk that, while serving Jesus is important, we still need to make time every day to listen to Him by reading His Word, the Bible, and to talk to Him by praying.
While it is important to obey God, serving God can sometimes become a barrier, keeping us from truly knowing God. If you are a Christian, the most important thing is to know God, which you do by listening and talking to Him. Don’t let serving God ever become more important to you than knowing God and seeking Him with all your heart (see Matthew 6:33; John 15:1-8, 17:3).
Whisk is still a busy squirrel. He is still a silly squirrel. He still helps others, and his house is still full of to-do lists and notes. But now, Whisk makes sure he spends time talking and listening to God every day.
What about you? Is there anything in your life that has become more important to you than reading your Bible and praying to God? What in your life can you get rid of so that you can do the most important thing?
Read the story of Mary and Martha for yourself in Luke 10:38-42!
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Used by permission. All rights reserved.
