Parkinson's Journey

For some, peach season has past.  For others, they are in the midst of harvest.  And for others still, they’ve got a few more weeks until they begin to pick.  I’ll bet you that  you can probably smell the sweet, juicy fragrance of a ripe peach nearby, if you wanted to.

Harry and David had bulk peaches the last two weeks, priced at five pounds for a dollar.  I have put up two batches into the freezer, helped Ben and Kim make Fresh Peach Salsa, made a yummy peach cobbler and enjoyed fruit salads, with lots of peaches in them.

I love peaches.  There’s just one problem though.  I cannot stand the skins.  It’s challenging enough to pick up a peach without going crazy, but to think of biting into it would be like someone running their fingernails down a chalkboard.

So, if I eat them, I peel them first.  It’s less painful

Last night I peeled about 25 peaches.  Each one was ripe and juicy.  A few had some minor bruises and one, a major bruise that looked like it had been used in baseball practice. I peeled it and then began cutting away the dark spot.  I cut once.  Then I cut again.  Still a third time and with the fourth cut I looked at it and wondered if it was worth keeping.   It wasn’t any resemblance to a round peach but looked like an overworked Jenga puzzle.  As I moved my arm to put it into the compost pile, I stopped.  I cut off a piece and savored what I could taste.  It was so sweet, so juicy, so yummy. I cut the rest off and let it fall in the bowl with the other slices.

As I contemplated just tossing that peach, something hit me.  There are so many people struggling with illnesses, handicaps, diseases.  They are missing a leg, they have to use a walker.  Some have lost much of their mobility or have been told that their time left here on earth is limited.  They view themselves as puzzles who have lost pieces to their lives and will never be whole again.  They forget there is a God who never loses sight of where those pieces have fallen and can restore broken lives.

I stood there with a slice of peach in my mouth and thought about how, even though badly cut up, that peach had not lost its flavor or juiciness.   I though about how we are full of flavor – some of us peaches, others grapes, others berries – fruit of some sort.  We all have a sweet flavor to bring to others but often don’t think we do because we view ourselves as incomplete with missing pieces – nothing to offer.

Let me tell you something oh ye who reads this:  You were born to flavor the world and you don’t lose that ability until you choose to and that is when we shrivel up into nothing.  No one wants a shriveled up peach when there sits a ripe, juicy one to enjoy.  No matter what the shape, if your flavor is sweet, you are delicious.  Allow your juice to flow out of abundance and flavor the world.  What a purpose!

So, calling all those fruits out there – put on your best skins, let yourself bathe in the Son and allow his light to ripen you so that you can add the sweet flavor to this life that you were meant to add – that sweet, juicy, uncontainable flavor.

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