Fresh Fruit

This time of year I enjoy an early morning run (a charitable use of the word in this case).  This morning I ran a new route in the neighborhood and along the course discovered some wild blackberry vines with ripe fruit, which provided both a welcome excuse to stop running for a couple minutes and an opportunity to sample the plump, sweet fruit.  I felt like I had found “berried” treasure.

One reason I love living in South Carolina is the abundance of fruit.  First come the berries (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries); then the peaches, plums, cantaloupes, and watermelons; then the apples; and finally, after the weather turns cool, the persimmons (eat them before they are ripe and they will turn your lips inside out).  

Until moving to South Carolina I did not realize there are so many varieties of peaches and they can be grouped into two categories: freestone and clingstone.  Despite Georgia’s reputation, South Carolina grows more peaches.  Georgia just advertises theirs better (a lesson in the power of marketing).

One thing I know about fruit is that once you get a taste of its fresh, sweet goodness, you want more.  This time of year we enjoy fresh fruit almost every meal.

The Bible has much to say about fruit – forbidden fruit, fruit of the Spirit, and trees cursed for the lack of fruit.  “You shall know them by their fruit,” Jesus says.  God must derive much pleasure when He sees fresh fruit in our lives – both the inner presence of the fruit of the Spirit and the outer evidence of the fruit of good works.  This is what Wesley referred to as Works of Piety and Works of Mercy.  Such fruit is in season year-round.