SUMMER SESSION #14-FRUIT OF THE SEASON

 FACT--you recognize something is  classified as a fruit when it has seeds inside the fruit.  I KNOW you realize tomatoes are fruits.  They have seeds in them, but they are not always associated as being fruits.  Lacking that wonderful sweetness we usually associate with fruit (lemons and limes being an exception), and because we often have them in a salad, we tend to think they are a vegetable.  Not so!


We have fruits galore here with our prime growing conditions.  Plums, pears, blueberries, figs, peaches, strawberries, satsumas... to name a few.  BUT one of my favorite summer fruits is the watermelon.  They reach their prime in the hottest part of the summer.  July and August find the crop coming in with fields filled with the refreshing treat. (though I love a good watermelon, they tend to give me "the burps")



I have so many memories of enjoying an ice cold melon.  Occasionally we would eat one straight from the field after cracking it open on the ground.  We would eat the meat of the melon while holding it by the rind with juice dripping down our hands, arms and face.  Nothing better than fresh picked fruit.




The poor watermelon farmer had to deal with numerous pests once they were ready for picking - raccoons, bunnies, squirrels to name a few of the field robbers here.  Perhaps the biggest threat during my growing up years were the roaming teens, looking for a field to grab a fresh melon from.  The farmers were prepared--some kept shotguns loaded with salt or bird shot.  Watermelons are ripe and the farmer's game was on to protect his field.  If you made it across the barbed wire  unscathed, you then had to worry about the business end of that shotgun.  Thankfully I never heard of anyone being killed by a farmer over a watermelon.  I do know of several aspiring thieves who gave up their melon stealing after hearing the BOOM of that shotgun and feeling the raining down of the pellets.  If you go a stealing in the dark of the night, you risked the wrath of a farmer protecting his crop.

Are we sometimes guilty of theft of other forms from our fellow man?  Do we steal their reputation by being a party to gossip?  Do we strip the self esteem of our neighbor by failing to see them?  Do we allow the life long consequences of abuse, neglect, bullying by refusing to become involved?  Are we trampling in the field of self image by refusing to bear the burden of anyone beyond the tight circle we draw around ourselves?  Are we stripping the fruit from the vines of our neighbor's fields by overt action or inaction?  Food for thought--literally.

Love does no wrong to a neighbor;

 therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Romans 13:10

2 comments

  1. these are good reflective questions, Lulu. looking deep, we might not like what we see. praise God for forgiveness and fresh starts!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Another wonderful analogy, Lulu! You really made me sit up and take notice.
    Blessings!

    ReplyDelete

Your comments keep my writing and often cause me to think. A written form of a hug or a pat on the back and an occasional slap into reality---I treasure them all!