Splat! Blueberries bounced and rolled at the end of the check-out lane, quickly occupying the floor to the wall. Mom stood speechless. Her older boy, maybe eight, was wide-eyed, and a younger boy, around five, stood tugging at Mom’s sweater, looking up at her as if to say, “I didn’t do it.” I was one aisle over and, by the time I pushed my cart to the end of the lane, the older boy was squatted at the edge of the blueberries, scooping up as many as he could. Mom reached down and scooted the open container, from where more than half of the berries had escaped, closer to her son. He unloaded a handful of blueberries into the box.
It happens now and then, doesn’t it? Our fruit slips out of our hands, just like that blood orange I told you about a while back.
Mom attempted to stay calm. But she had a lot going on. She still had to pay, and the youngest boy was demanding her attention and her request that he settle down was falling on deaf ears. Of course, all eyes were on the action, everyone waiting to see what she would do next.
I was penned in. Another customer was scanning items at the self-check-out register behind me and my cart was between the spilled fruit and me. So, I stood still, not wanting to push my cart through the field of berries and release more liquid. Already, someone had walked through, red-violet juice squirting beneath their feet with each step.
I looked down the row of check-out counters and saw a worker headed our way. He seemed oblivious to the spill. Maybe he had noticed the patrons and their carts stationary along the wall. But soon his eyes discovered the boy and the berries. He was a young man, at least six-feet-two-inches tall, and brawn. I wondered how he would respond.
“Hey buddy. You don’t need to do that. I’ll call for some help,” he said when he was close enough for the boy to hear him.
The boy looked up for a second then kept scooping up berries.
Another patron tip-toed through the berries, carefully avoiding all but a couple of juicy, now smashed fruit pieces.
“Hey buddy. You can leave those. I have help coming,” the employee said again.
Soon, the mess was cleared. Mom got a new box of blueberries. And everyone went on their way.
It is hard, sometimes, to hold on to our fruit.
In the beginning–well, on the sixth day–“God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness …’” (Genesis 1:26) “So God created mankind in his own image …” (Genesis 1:27)
You got it. We are created in the image of God. So, we should be perfect like God. Right? Wrong! We will never reach that mark.
But for those of us who believe, who have said yes to Jesus’ gift of salvation, we can be more like God because we have Jesus as an example and we have the Holy Spirit living in us, helping us, teaching us, guiding us if we’ll listen.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you …” (2 Corinthians 10:1) Jesus, in the flesh, acted in meekness and was mild mannered even when confronted with contempt and cruelty. When He could have responded in anger—when we might have expected Him to—He remained gentle. Throughout the New Testament we are called to gentleness.
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” (Colossians 3:12) In other words, put on Jesus.
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. (Ephesians 4:2)
The grocery store employee could have responded differently to the boy. I’m glad he didn’t. He responded with gentleness and patience. Maybe he even remembered a time when he was a little boy and had spilled something in a public place. Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, he expressed genuine care and I, for one, was grateful.
Have you lost the grip on your fruit? Has your gentleness splattered on the floor and smashed into an unrecognizable mush? It’s not too late. We have Someone who cleans up our messes—if we ask and sincerely want to replenish our supply.
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Read the entire series–Hold On to Your Fruit!