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So, here it is the end of March. Spring has been on the calendar for about a week. The grass is getting greener, the weather is getting warmer, the days are getting longer. It really is starting to feel like maybe old man winter has retired for another year. Though I am not holding my breathe just quite yet.
While in the grocery store this weekend I saw watermelons on a pallet. A sure sign of Spring right? They were outrageously priced. However, they looked so green, so tantalizing, so tempting. For someone who loves watermelon I couldn't resist. I bought one and brought it home.
For me watermelons are a connection to a good memory. I can remember sitting outside at my Grandma's house on a quilt on the ground, with family all around. The sweet aroma of that precious fruit when it was first split open. The beautiful bright red color of the fruit full of black and white seeds. I can remember eating it right from the rind, spitting the seeds on the ground, and the sweet juice running down my chin. The stickiness on my face and hands, running all the way down my arms.
Is the memory blown out of proportion? Or are watermelons just not as good anymore? In the last few years I have only gotten maybe one really good watermelon. One that measured up to my memory of them from childhood.
I have a theory on this. The sweetness of the watermelons comes from the seeds. Since we have taken out the seeds they are not as good anymore. The color is a pale pink instead of bright red. The firmness has been replaced by an over ripe softness. And most depressing the flavor is lacking in sweetness and juice.
We have taken out those pesky seeds that were such a pain in our butt. But in making our life easier, we have taken away the beauty and the sweetness of the fruit. I think that happens sometimes in life. When we remove the things that are a pain in our butt, we take away some of the sweetness. We take away from the joy and accomplishment of having completed something that was hard. There was something about taking a bite and determining what was fruit and spitting out the seeds. There is a satisfaction in spitting out seeds, the same way there is a satisfaction in determining what is good in our lives and what we should spit out.
I will continue to buy watermelons and search for that taste and sweet treat from my childhood. But, I am going to be on the hunt for watermelons with seeds. I am OK with the nuisance of picking out the seeds if it brings the sweetness I remember.
Psalm 119:103 "How sweet your words taste to me; they are sweeter than honey."
