An Allegory on Fruit

Picture a large bowl heaped with a variety of fruit, in varying colors, shades, shapes,and sizes. Some have sheen, others fuzz or dents, stems or a bumpy texture. You consider which one is most appealing to your senses or appetite at the moment and you reach for it as your mouth begins to water.

Then a sudden shift happens before your very eyes, and the desired fruit is replaced by your least preferred fruit in the bowl. Once past the shock of this odd occurrence, you again plunge your hand into the bowl to retrieve your chosen favorite which peeks at you from beneath the pile.

Again your favored choice slips out of reach, your cheeks stirring with unrequited anticipation.

You wonder what is happening. What world are you living within that withholds from you that which you most desire?

You try yet one more time. But now, amidst all the pieces of fruit, the one you are attempting to select is not even in sight. It is buried from your view. There are others staring up at you to pick from, but now you are even more eager to grasp your most wanted one with two hands, two lips and a good set of teeth.

You start to move the other fruit around in the bowl, certain your beloved piece must be there somewhere, but it appears to have disappeared from the bowl totally. It must have fallen to the lowest hollow of the bowl, which means that all the other pieces must first be moved to a location elsewhere.

As you begin to take each piece out of the bowl, you are prompted to appreciate the quality and uniqueness of each one. You find yourself wishing that there were other people there with you to admire and enjoy the fruit too.

You realize that the first fruit you handle is the very kind that most people love.Touching the second one reminds you of its citrus fragrance which always brings you a feeling of joy. Grasping the soft fuzz of the third fruit brings a sensation of peace.

Stil lno sign of the fruit you most want to enjoy. This waiting to find and recover what you want the most is getting tiresome. You wonder if it is worth spending all this time and effort. Maybe you would do well to just give up. After all,this whole scenario has been rather odd and more than a bit disturbing. What if your adored fruit is not to be revealed?

Youreach for the fourth piece and remember the kindness that yourneighbor shows to everyone each time she shares her bumper crop of this kindof fruit.

The fifth fruit to be seized for removal from the bowl is the one everyone knows that when eaten once a day it has all the goodness of preventative medicine.

The sixth fruit is a cluster of purple that exemplifies the faithfulness of a fruit at its very best in all of its many different forms, whether enjoyed fresh or dried, juiced, fermented or cooked down to a delightfully spreadable form.

Still no single sign of your cherished choicest fruit. (Try saying that three times fast.) Makes you want to just give up trying or maybe rush through this process of fruit moving, doesn’t it?

However the seventh fruit is one that bruises very easily and so you lift and move it with a gentleness that belies your desire to just get this effort over with. In fact by now you have worked up a major appetite and thirst.

The eighth and hopefully last piece is before you. It seemingly fills the bowl with its size, and will take two hands to lift it. It feels chilled to the touch making you long for its refreshment. In its customary wedge-cut, it would be so welcomed by your mouth and throat, that you would have to exert major self-control to keep from cutting into it, and thereby giving up your quest for the long awaited fruit of your preference.

Your eyes sweep across the fruit that now lay in random array around the bowl. You are moved again to want to share it with others; to give it all away for their happiness. You recognize the wealth before you and are gladdened that they all exist as blessings to behold and partake of. You are more acquainted with the worth of each one and want to offer them to whoever you can.

But now it is time to peer into the depth of the bowl to find the illusive sweet gem of a fruit that has been the object of your desire, perseverance and delight.

Before you lean in to see and take hold of the missing piece you have hungered for, you take a purifying breath in, and let out a deliberate, unhurried sigh of relief – even before you are certain if your piece is there. For you are now more aware than ever that regardless if it is there or not, it has all been worth the waiting and wondering. For there has been virtue in the grasping and transferring of all the other honorable fruit.

Before ever being seen, touched, tasted, and enjoyed the missing piece has achieved its purpose; for the missing piece is patience.

James1:4
Let ^{4 BB}patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Galatians 5:22-23
²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control.

Gratefully HIS,

Jan