Orange

January brings many things that I don't look forward to. I can't even pretend that I like the frigid blasts of Arctic air or the fleeting, elusive few hours of daylight. However, on the bright side, there are special January treats for many of us. Depending on your persuasion, the Pennsylvania Farm Show or in many cases the Super Bowl is an anticipated winter treat.
My tastes are a bit simpler but date back to my childhood. As the bleak winter approached, I grew to anticipate several edible treats. The first was the Hershey's chocolate that my father stashed in his hunting coat in order to survive the cold and wet hunting season. The second were a variety of nuts that appeared around the Christmas season. They would magically appear in a big wooden bowl with a metal cracker and a picker that looked like a dental tool. The last were oranges "straight from Florida"- that mystical but never seen paradise.
I don't remember eating a lot of oranges growing up. I guess I ate the oranges that appeared in each of our Christmas stockings because I remember the seeds they had back then! Mostly I remember a large white porcelain juicer that was brought out to process and sample a taste of this amazing juice. It tasted many times better than what I knew orange juice should taste like.
Although I am sure there are many varieties of seeded oranges, my favorites now are the magically non-seeded Navel Oranges. (Must be a virgin birth kind of thing!) Those beautiful perfectly colored treats are quite addictive and I have to be careful not to develop a two figure a day habit. I am chea…. ahh, I mean frugal, but somehow oranges seem to be a necessity even as the cost crosses the dollar mark.
As I sit this morning staring at the "perfect" orange that I selected out of all the runner-ups, my thoughts wander. Looking at it closely, it wasn't the perfect specimen I thought it was. There were some flaws and blotches covered by that magically uniform bright orange coloring. I'd been tricked! As I pealed the orange, about a third of it proves to be worthless protective covering. I realize how valuable that skin really is. Although it can't be eaten, the skin is really the secret to the succulent fragile delicacy inside. I've learned to look beyond the pretty superficial color when selecting oranges. I look for thick tough rough skins that many pass up. Seldom are these oranges mysteriously shriveled and dried or bruised inside the way others with more perfect delicate skins are. There is a purpose for everything. I am learning that fruit is not just the core delicacy that everyone desires but the whole well-designed entity. We are designed to be integrated, the tough and the delicate, the tasty and the non edible, and on and on. No matter how you may self assess your value based on appearance, taste, texture, or function; you're part of a fruitful blessing for someone. You're special.