impression on me. She was speaking on the subject of“ How Does Your Garden Grow?” and in delivering her message she referenced the fruit of the spirit.
She did the most wonderful thing by comparing the fruit of the spirit to real fruit, attributing certain characteristics fitting for those spiritual fruit found in Galatians to the fruit we really eat. The first fruit, of course, was LOVE. She picked up a huge watermelon, and everybody in the room uttered sounds of pleasant affirmation.“ Love,” she said,“ is a watermelon.”
How perfect that analogy was for me. My pregnancies were expressions of the love I have for my husband and children and watermelon is what I ate the entire time. But the way Phyllis described it was even more symbolic.
She intimated how watermelon was one of the world’ s largest fruit comparing it to the way love is one of the largest actions and emotions we should show as women of God. No wonder Galatians lists love as THE fruit of the spirit with other fruit spilling out as a direct result of the love we show. Love should be our biggest expression toward one another.
Next Phyllis pointed out that watermelon is a fruit we share. Though I am sure it’ s possible, it is not likely that anyone would eat an entire watermelon themselves. My grandmother warned me about eating too much watermelon,“ It’ ll make your stomach sick.” Likewise with us, too much self-love( otherwise known as conceit, arrogance, self-absorption--you get the picture) will not only make us sick, but could make other folks sick as well. Don’ t you hate it when you get around a person who’ s only in love with him or herself? Ugh. Love, like watermelon, is meant to be shared with others. I remember distinctly hearing my aunt call people on the phone when she got a good watermelon,“ I got a watermelon over here. It’ s good and sweet. Ya’ ll come and get you some.” The house would soon fill up with friends and family. We would sit around on the porch talking and smacking on watermelon, spitting out the seeds into the yard.
The seeds were the key comparison in Phyllis’ presentation. She said the watermelon had an enormous amount of seeds. What that means is that there are countless opportunities for the watermelon to reproduce itself in various places. One watermelon could feasibly yield hundreds of other watermelon. That is exactly what love should do in our lives. Your love should leave seeds behind that would cause more love to spring up everywhere, even in places you didn’ t expect. Sometimes, you may not even see the place where your love seed is planted or even the fruit it produces. Nevertheless, just know, love does have countless seeds and if sown properly, the seeds should be popping up love blooms everywhere.
Your take-away? It’ s quite simple. Love is a watermelon. It’ s big. It’ s perfect for sharing. And it is full of seeds for sowing. Embrace your inner watermelon, share and sow.
DiAnne Malone is a book author, college professor and founder of Who’ s That Lady Blog.