Nicole feels

As I peel the skin of that Clementine away, what do I find?

FRUIT!!

Mmmmmm. The good stuff.

The theme for our M0PS group this year is �Fresh Fruit: Growing a Life that Matters� and that idea is taken from a passage in Galatians that says:

Love!
Joy!
Peace!
Patience!
Kindness!
Goodness!
Faithfulness!
Gentleness!
Self-control!

I can add even more to the list, opposites of those things we talked about peeling away:

Peeling away bitterness and finding delight.
Peeling away pride and finding humility.
Peeling away guilt and finding forgiveness.
Peeling away unforgiveness and finding mercy.

Who wouldn�t want to have these attributes?

When Nathan was in the second grade, his class put on a �Mother�s Day Tea�. They sang for us, served us cookies and punch, and did all those cute things that kids do to make their moms cry at such events.

They had also spent several weeks making crafts for us. One was an acrostic using the word �Mother�. As I read mine, I felt my chest puffing with pride. �Wow, my boy thinks I�m Magnificent! Outstanding!...� The list went on.

Then I got to the final letter. R. Fully expecting a word such as resplendent, reliable, or radiant, I was chagrined to read...

Ruthless.

Ruthless? Ruthless!?

When I asked Nathan about it, he said, �You mean that�s not a good thing?�

Rob and I got quite the laugh out of that one. I was relieved that he didn�t really think his mom was ruthless (though my sisters might try to say it�s true; I am the eldest, after all).

And while that is funny, what if he really did think that? If he did a Mother Acrostic today, what words would he choose to describe me?

My sincerest hope is that they would be �fruit attributes� and not my prickly peel.

Which takes me back to my darling Clementine. If I�d left the skin on, what would have happened?

One word.

Yuck.

Saturday I found out exactly what happens when one leaves a piece of citrus fruit unattended for an undetermined amount of time.

When in MD back in December, the boys were given goodie sacks at my mom�s church. Inside: various stocking stuffers, including an orange.

Fast forward to Saturday night, bedtime at the L abode. The boy�s room, which they claimed to have cleaned, was slightly less than chaotic at best. I started moving some stuff off the floor, chastising them a bit, and in the process grabbed Parker�s goodie sack.

�How did this get wet?�

As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew the answer. I peered into the bag, and...

Yuck!

The orange was still in there, peel and all. Only now it wasn�t a pretty orange color. Oh, no, it was white and green and fuzzy. And it had infected everything within its reach. The toys still in the bag, the apple, the bag itself. Even the floor brandished a wet spot.

I realize, again, that I just can�t stay in my skin. The price is much higher than a homemade sack, some pencils, and another piece of fruit.

And it is not what my Creator intended at all.