agri.church

The fam and I went apple picking this weekend. Seeing all the wasted fruit and slightly “ugly” apples that don’t get picked got me thinking. Walk around an apple orchard this time of year and you’ll see thousands of apples lying on the ground or left on the tree because they had a spot or two. Something in us doesn’t want to put these ‘imperfect’ chaps in our bag. It reminded me of a rant that I came across a while back:

I accept that fruit and vegetables come in all shapes and sizes. Like life, it takes all sorts. I accept apples that don’t have perfect skin. (Remember being a teenager?) I also accept scary looking carrots, over-sized swedes and onions so ugly they make your eyes water. I accept blemishes on cauliflower leaves especially as we don’t eat that bit anyway. I accept rhubarbs that are taller than corporate policy. I accept potatoes come from the ground. I have also come to terms with the fact they may well have dirt on as a result. And as for turnips, well, they were never meant to be one of nature’s good-lookers. You see, nature grew them all. Nature gave them the OK. And, this is the important bit, nature gave these ugly critters as much goodness as the pretty ones. These are shallow times, I know. Even so, to throw away 20-30% of the food we grow on the grounds that it’s not pretty enough, seems like we have lost the garden plot. You say your customers demand it this way, well, just so you know, this one doesn’t. By A Customer that accepts ugly

Last night our little community talked about the potential that often lies dormant inside each one of us. Someone talked about how she wanted our community to be a place that truly celebrated gifts and creation of all kinds. But, I wonder, if it’s this hard to accept apples that don’t look perfect, how much harder will we have to work to accept others? Will we truly be a place that accepts ‘ugly’? Will we see others through the eyes of Jesus and realize that all our ugliness is cast on him? Will we see that beneath what the world sees and declares ugly is a soul dearly loved by God. Listen closely, can you hear God declaring over all creation, “I ACCEPT UGLY! And not only that, I make what was once ugly into something beautiful.”