O give thanks to the Lord, for the Lord is good. (Psalm 136: 1)

In a small Georgia town, a young couple was walking home from their work at a cotton mill. The foreman from their job walked with them until he reached his home. In the front yard of his home was a peach tree with three large peaches hanging on it. When the couple remarked how wonderful the peaches looked, the foreman picked two of the peaches and gave one to each of them. Not satisfied with just one peach each, the couple crept back after dark and picked the one remaining peach, leaving the tree bare of any fruit.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were given total control over all the created things, the animals, the plants, the fruit trees, etc., but human nature set in and that which was off-limits became attractive to a point of over-stepping one simple boundary that God had put in place.

Are there things of this world that you know in your heart are off-limits or not good for you and your spiritual life and growth? Satan has a way of making those things in particular look very attractive.

There exists all around us the need to reach out. Homeless people have little or no food or places to rest their head. Children of poverty have no new clothes or toys. But far too many of us have our eyes on the televisions where we are bombarded with great offers of gadgets and toys that will most likely be abandoned within a very short time.

At this time of year, wouldn’t it be better to help water and prune the peach tree rather than steal the last remaining bit of fruit on it’s branches?

God of love and compassion, may we find the compassion and spirit to reach out and help, rather than reach out and grab!