Look at your Fruit.

EFY is over. Which means summer is nearly over, as well. This has been the craziest summer of my entire life but it has been a blast. I have never been in the company of so many admirable peers. I want to be like them.

We had an incredible session director at this past session. I loved him and his family. He taught me something that I have been pondering and thinking and praying about for the past year or so.

He taught me to look at an orange. Any fruit will do, actually, but he used an orange. Besides the fact that oranges are beautiful to look at, if you become very acquainted with an orange you will notice that the little dimples all over the surface are actually tiny balls all joined together. The tiny balls are connected to a soft, squishy white material and together they make up the peel. The peel is wonderful because it protects the orange when it falls to the ground but is still soft enough for us to get inside.

Then you open the orange. The sharp tangy aroma of citrus hits your nose. You notice that there are different wedges, all safely encased in a thin package soft enough to bite through, but tough enough to manhandle. Inside the wedges are hundreds of tiny purses full of flavor that burst in your mouth and release the nutrient filled juice.

And then think of everything you can do with an orange! We have orange juice, house cleaner, air fresheners, hand lotions, shampoos, paintings, all inspired by oranges.

The scriptures say "By their fruits ye shall know them." (Matthew 7:20) Honestly, when the Savior created the world He could have put all the necessary nutrients we need to survive in a gray slimy block similar to tofu and said "Eat it" and we would have been fine. But instead, we were given beautiful food that smells nice, tastes delicious, and is intricately protected within peels. What does this tell you about Jesus Christ?

It means He cares about us. He cares that we have joy. He cares that the smallest things in our lives are lovely.

I used to believe that if I didn't work hard enough, He wouldn't help me. That somehow I needed to qualify for His help. That I was earning it. A different session director from this summer said to me, "Stop living your life as if you are trying out for the Celestial Kingdom. You're already in. Just live your life in a way so that you'll know how to be when you get there."

If He's going to go to all that trouble concerning my fruit, then certainly He will help me, regardless of if I feel like I deserve it. He knows my heart. He knows what I need. He knows me. And as I look at the world and the fruit and the people, I know Him. I love Him.


Tune in for my next EFY recap: The Double Ended Paintbrush