fruit

while sitting here at the kitchen table, facing an open window, feeling a cool breeze on my face, my eyes wander over to a strategically placed bowl of fruit...placed right in the middle of the table. this is not just some bowl that was dug out of a dusty cupboard, only to be used in those rare times when you actually have fruit to put in it. this is a bowl that was bought lovingly by my aunt who knew that she would use it for fruit and table displays. she made the conscious decision to buy it knowing that she wanted her family to be healthy and strong. she bought it out of love for those around her, out of love for God, who she knows made vegetables and fruit to make her family stronger and healthier day to day. 

my eyes wander to the left wall of the dining room which is covered with family pictures, pictures of the savior and books on raising children, following christ, and becoming a better person. books on gardening and books on philosophy. I honestly believe that you can find out what kind of people you live with by the types of books they read and by what they eat. here in the johnson home there is always fresh fruit and vegetables handy, whole wheat bread, and home canned fruit, perfect for cobbler making! in this house scriptures are present in every room, pictures of the savior and of family cover the walls and kind words are always spoken. could it be that through what this family reads and eats and just focuses on all together brings them closer not only to God himself but also to each other? i honestly believe that is what is happening. 

i hope that someday i might be able to call a house my home one day, to be able to walk into this house and to be greeted by the shrieks and giggles of little children playing and to the voice of a loving husband who, knowing i was tired, made dinner already and had a bubble bath drawn and ready for me to relax in whilst he herded the children to bed. i want to leave this same house and shout 'i love you' and hear a handful of 'i love you' s back. (this is a common ritual in the johnson house) i want to walk into the kitchen to a huge mess of flour, or sugar, or another highly messy and hard to clean food staple, and find that the mess was made by a curious child who thought the texture of whatever is now leaking all over the newly scrubbed floor, felt squishy and fun between his/her toes and fingers. and who, when caught in the act of destroying what little cleanliness might have been present in a hectic house, giggles and calls to me 'mommy come play with me!' i want to save the little fingerprints that are in the refrigerator from a chile trying to help clean. 

now you may be asking what all this has to do with fruit. well i believe that the fact that my aunt bought fruit for her family, just shows how much she loves and cares for them, and i hope to one day achieve that kind of love and patience for a family of my own. someday i will find myself in the check out aisle with a fruit bowl and a cart just bursting from the health and goodness. one day i will buy fruit for my own family, till that day comes i will eat the fruit and vegetables put in front of me, so that i might be healthy and strong enough to take care of the little tykes that i will one day call my own.