What’s On the Inside

Today’s entry is brought to you by the Little Red Hen:

Over the past several days, I profoundly learned the sentiment behind several idiomatic expressions.  Cherries make for good teachers. 

Picking all that I planned on using myself and then turning around to do anything productive with them is in fact a time-consuming process; time-consuming processes allow ample space for contemplation.

I put on my shoes.  I got the bucket and the ladder.  I walked out to the tree.  I picked.  I discarded the bad.  I de-stemmed.  I washed.  I pitted.  I divided into groups – freeze, jam, crumble.  I bagged.  I chopped, stirred, and jarred.  I fixed crumble topping and baked.  I washed my hands.  I ate.

First and foremost, let’s be thankful for orchardists and anyone picking fruit (and God’s good green earth).  Secondly, I used to understand the term “low-hanging fruit” primarily in a sales context; I now appreciate it in a literal context.

Thirdly, on a less lovely note, many of the cherries – like more than half – had little worms in them.  Beautiful crimson, wine-colored, and blood-red cherries.  Plump.  Ripe.  Juicy.  Easily picked.  And yet, they had worms in them.  Wiggly, ugly things ruining the sweet inside.  After sifting through and all the effort, it makes you appreciative of the ones that are protein-free.

In real life, sorting through a few cherries is no matter to me.  I’m glad as can be for delicious fresh fruit.  But in the time spent sifting and picking out the ones with those little bastards, I couldn’t help but think about how it’s about what’s on the inside that counts.  “For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

People are certainly a lot like fruit, aren’t they?

#AnitaVP #summer2019 #cherry #cherries #cherrypicking #litteredhen #whatsontheinside #inside #symbolisim #Lordlooksattheheart