On our recent trip to Italy, we stayed in Sorrento, the home of limoncello. (Lemon flavoured digestif). The UK supermarkets would have us believe that lemons are all, more or less, a standard size with shiny yellow peel. However, the lemon groves that adorn the Sorrentine peninsula produce some fruit the size of melons, with dull yellow peel and shapes that would possibly win the “knobbly knees” competition.
There were several stalls on the old town selling lemons, and other fruit, for freshly squeezed fruit juice, and clearly from the signs sitting on the fruit, the stallholders were fed up with tourists picking up fruit without buying.
In life we are all different shapes and sizes, some people are smooth, others have rougher edges. But what is on the inside may be very different to what we assume when we judge someone by their outward appearance.
The lemon juice that resulted from the large, dull, ugly lemon was just as refreshing as the juice from the lemon supplied by local UK supermarket. In fact, it was even more refreshing if it had been handpicked from the lemon tree in our holiday house garden!
Prayer: Loving God, you see the potential deep within us all and do not judge what you see on the outside. You have confidence in us, so that in your eyes we aren’t picked up and examined before being discarded. Help us to bear fruit for you, to live up to that potential, and for your Holy Spirit bring us the refreshment we need. Amen