Go Ahead. Judge a Watermelon By Its Cover!
Watermelon is my favorite summer fruit. It’s amusing to watch people thumping on watermelons trying to find the best one. I could never nail that sound. But HOLD ON Mr. Watermelon Thumper! I finally aced my watermelon sweetness picks. Here’s the real deal on picking the sweetest watermelon:
~ Make sure it has a prominent yellow spot. This is where it sat on the ground ripening. No spot = premature pick = not ripe. ~
~ Look for “webbing”. This is the brown, coarse web-looking material caused when bees pollinate the flower and scar the membranes that later form the fruit. The more pollination = more webbing = sweeter fruit. *****You’re welcome!!!*****
Did you read between the lines of picking a sweet watermelon? We need to find the sweetest ones by looking for imperfections, flaws, defects, yellow spots, brown, coarse webbing, and scars.
Yes, we SHOULD judge a watermelon by its cover – but NEVER should we judge a book OR another person by their cover. Those perfect and well put together, dressed-to-the-nines folks might be filled with anger and hard-heartedness. And those with scars, body piercings, tattoos, or multi-colored hairdos might be the most genuine, loving and caring people with hearts after God and care more about others than we can imagine. Only God knows the hearts of His children and is their “fruit inspector”.
Guilty — as charged. I was at a church a couple of weeks ago and sat by a beautiful young woman who had tattoos all over her arms and legs. I hugged her and “God blessed her”, but inwardly I was thinking “What was she thinking when she did all that?” Yes, I was judging. Then, on a video was a guy speaking who was all tattooed (from what I could see) except for his face. I think I may have gasped because the person I was with whispered:”He is the kindest, SWEETEST and devoted-to-Christ person you will ever meet.” I later found out the gal beside me was his wife and “is also, the SWEETEST”.
Immediately, I remembered when the Lord sent the prophet Samuel to Jesse’s home to anoint the next king of Israel. Jesse had eight sons to choose from. Sure, with Samuel’s eyes, it was plain to see that the obvious pick — the tallest, most handsome, and best choice to be king would be Eliab. “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7.
That sounds a lot like the sweetness of a watermelon, doesn’t it? Little, ruddy, shepherd-boy-David was overlooked. In fact, he wasn’t even invited to the “beauty pageant”, but when Samuel asked “Are these all of your sons?” and when Jesse replied, “I have one more son – young shepherd boy David”, Samuel asked for him to brought to him. We know the rest of that story. Young David was anointed king of Israel that day. His heart was a heart after God’s own heart. (1 Samuel 13:14)
What God cares about the most is the sweetness of the fruit that is growing inside us. Our Master “Picker” sees that we are all very precious and valuable and He is always “checking out our flaws and imperfections”, giving us “heavenly” thumping because He’s very aware of the “maturing” that needs to go on inside.
Obviously, this post is pointed at you with one-finger. The other four are pointing back at me. I’m on a mission to have my Father’s eyes. Eyes that find the good in things and people; eyes full of compassion and sensitivity — NOT looking at the outward appearance. Sure we all have imperfections and flaws and that’s a good thing because, like the watermelon — the greater the flaws and imperfections…..the sweeter the fruit. I certainly want the Fruit of the Spirit to be a reflection of He who is the sweetest and most desirable in me. May we be imitators of our Creator and rather than the desire to BE beautiful….that we desire to create His beauty everywhere WE ARE and everywhere WE GO!