Have you ever looked at a piece of fruit and thought, “wow, this is beautiful.”?
I’m guessing probably not. I know I haven’t.
But then, it happened.
I was sitting at my kitchen table enjoying a peach that I had picked up earlier in the week from the grocery store. With it being winter, I knew this peach would have some imperfections but I chose to look past them and satisfy my craving. While eating the peach I looked at it closely and made the crazy comparison that perhaps this finite, sunset colored peach was like life. In all of its imperfections it was still sweet to the taste.
Life is like a piece of fruit. When I looked at it closely it was bruised, but when I chose to see it from a different perspective that small peach suddenly became perfect. It was as if in that moment my entire being was within that peach. I felt that God was looking at me, telling me that my walk with Him is perfect, despite the flaws I see in myself, and the burdens I carry. God never said that life would be easy. He knew there would be bumps along the way, but to God we are perfect.
In the summertime it’s easy to take that ripe peach for granted. Summertime fruit is always the ripest and most satisfying. The sweet taste of it on our lips can become ordinary and we can skip over the meaning it holds. However, whenever winter rolls around that peach starts to look a little more bruised. For some reason we always seem to notice the peach and its imperfections when life isn’t going the way we want it to. This life gives us so many reasons to only notice the bruises.
When life knocks us down we have two choices: either dwell on the imperfections of this sinful world, or to enjoy the little things that go unnoticed by most. If you really think about it, anything that exists in itself is extravagant! This is because everything was made by God! God is the definition of extravagance. “This is the day the Lord has made! We will rejoice and be glad in it!” (Psalms 118:24 NLT).
I have been working on finding joy in things I wouldn’t normally notice. When you have this mindset life can be pretty peachy! Each day there are so many beautiful things and as Christians we have the opportunity to see life the way God intended. No matter what happens to us, the sun will always rise the next day, and fruit will always grow on the trees He planted within the rich soil. How amazing is that? How precious are the infinite details that God has woven into each and every day!
This week I have really noticed how truly blessed I am by the little things. Sometimes a peach can really make you listen. Taking the time to notice beautiful imperfections in moments of trial and misunderstanding show me how my life truly is; a little bruised and a little unripe, but perfect in the eyes of my God.
Written by Hanna Chaffin
