A Lesson From the Peach

As I walked from the barn past the old peach tree, I noticed that most of the peaches had fallen to the ground already.  Such a shame I thought.  What a waste.  I looked at them and decided that several of them looked perfect even though they were on the ground.  So I took a "shirt-tail" of them into the house with me and deposited them in the kitchen sink in some cool water.  (Y'all know what that means don't you?  A "shirt-tail" measure is just the amount of something you can carry in the bottom of your shirt with it folded up.)

As I began to peel and slice the peaches I noticed something.  All of them had flaws. Some more than others but still and yet ALL of them were flawed.  My husband didn't poison them this year to keep the bugs from eating on them so they were left to nature and therefore the reason for all the bad spots!

One peach in particular looked perfect. Pale pinkish blush over milky white skin.  I thought to myself, "Here's one the bugs missed!" But when I cut into the peach I saw how mistaken I was! It was rotten to the core with a big ole white worm eating away near the peach pit! Disgusting! It had looked so good on the outside! And had I never cut it open I would have never known about that worm eating away the heart of the peach. That is, until it just collapsed from the inside later on!

Isn't that the way it is with people too? We may look good on the outside but only God can see what's going on deep in our hearts.  Sometimes we are like the Pharisee who looked at the tax collector beating on his chest asking God to forgive him for being a sinner and say, "God, I'm so glad I'm not a sinner like that man!" In regard to this, Jesus said, "I tell you, this man (tax collector) went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

We need to be more concerned with what's going on deep within our spirit rather than trying to impress others with our outward appearance or our Pharisaical attitudes. What God said to the prophet Samuel is just as true today as it was then: "for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7

Are we whole?  Or are we rotten? Or are we wholly rotten?  Makes me want to take a better look at myself and see if my outward appearance agrees with my inner convictions.

By the way...I was able to salvage enough peaches for a small bowl full.  They are yummy on ice cream.  If the damage to the peach was small, I was still able to cut off the bad and use the good that was left. There were a few that were, as I said earlier, ''rotten to the core'' and had to be tossed.  I want God to cut out the bad from my heart so that I can still be used by him.

God bless you!

Marilyn