Choose The Bruised Fruit

(by Lorie Codispoti)

Several bushels of peaches were in the kitchen waiting to be canned the day we arrived at my friend’s house. After lunch, her children were anxious for us to try some of the "best ones" they had picked from their orchard.

Something was strange though: The children purposely searched for and selected the bruised peaches. “Here’s one!” they declared with great enthusiasm, and they searched until they found a bruised one for each one of us.

When I questioned their mother about it later, she told me that when she was growing up "snacks" were found among the family's fruit trees. In order to prevent waste her mother convinced the children that the best peaches were the ones with bruises because they contained the sweet spots. My friend carried on her mother’s frugal tradition, and in the process taught her children to be content with what was provided. Her children had picked out the very best pieces to serve us that day and I was greatly humbled by their generosity and joy.

How often have you picked up bruised produce only to cast it aside for a more perfect piece? I’m not advocating the purchase of bruised produce, but there's a great lesson to be caught and taught here.

(Interesting fact: Up to 30 million dollars a year is lost in potatoes alone due to the damage caused from shipping and handling. The produce industry is continually looking for ways to preserve the quality of their product, from the time it leaves the field till it arrives in your hand. This is because our culture demands perfection.)

Ever heard of Esther Ahn Kim?

Esther was an upper class, Korean woman who was imprisoned by the Japanese during World War II.

Long before her imprisonment she began to feel the Lord preparing her for the prison ministry she would have as an inmate.

Though they could afford otherwise, one of the ways that Esther prepared herself for the poverty and deprivation she saw as part of her calling was to relocate with her mother and sister to the poorest neighborhood in their community. There she purchased complete lots of poor produce from the nearby market and culled through them for the edible pieces. She gave those pieces to her mother and sister while she ate what was left in preparation for the rotten food she expected in prison.

Several years later Esther was in prison, and her physical condition was deteriorating. As she lay in her cell, preparing to die, she had a strange craving. She prayed and asked the Lord to give her one, whole apple to eat.

Later that same day, Esther overheard the soldiers talking about a shipment of rotten apples that no one wanted. She asked for and received the whole shipment. Due to the condition of her teeth she would have never been able to eat a crisp, firm, ripe apple, so her heart was filled with thanksgiving for the brown, soggy apples the Lord provided especially for her that day.

Esther did not die in prison. She was physically revived enough to press on, and after the war she married a godly man. They ministered together for many years before she died in her nineties.

What are we teaching our children about contentment? About hardship? About suffering?

The apostle Paul testified in Romans 8:18, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Are we learning to embrace the suffering that God allows in our lives and trust Him with the outcome?

We live in a culture that encourages us to avoid suffering at all costs. The same technique we employ in the produce department is what we teach our children - avoid the bruised fruit. Rather than choosing and embracing the bruised fruit we’ve cast it aside and labeled it “bad.” What we’ve failed to understand is that while this may be a good technique for grocery shopping, it’s not the best one for harvesting good spiritual fruit in our lives. And it certainly won't produce joy.

I heard a father instruct his children to note the marks of great Christians, not by there popularity or what they have attained in this life, but by what they have suffered for the cause of Christ. These are the lessons that build faith and produce the kind of fruit that can be harvested and shared with others.

Though most of us will never suffer the way that Esther Ahn Kim did, we will all experience a measure of hardship and watch those we love suffer.

Whenever I walk through a hard place now, I’m not interested in hearing about the lives of those that appear to have it all together. My Father has taught me to search out the bruised fruit among my brothers and sisters in Christ. Their stories are the ones that encourage me to persevere with contentment and joy.

I exhort you to spend some time walking through the orchard, searching out those whose lives have been bruised and used by God. Look for the ones who testify, “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” (Psalm 27:13)

Then make a pie and invite your friends over. It will be the sweetest spot in your day!