Operation Orange

(One of my goals for 2008 is to start a website so I can post some of my stories and articles. Until then I will post an article or two every now and then. I wrote this one several years ago after the Lord inspired me in the wee small hours of the morning. It is still one of my favorites.)


Have you taken time to look at an orange? It is roundish in shape; not a perfect sphere, but close. It is firm. It is fragrant. It has promise of something wonderful inside.

But in order to get to the fruit, there must be some dramatic changes. We have to peel away the flesh in order to expose what lies beneath. We have to get our fingers dirty and stained as we struggle to remove that often stubborn skin. We may get a spritz from the orange peel as we pull it away, and it may take time to remove the entire outer layer since sometimes it sticks to the fruit. But once we are done, we have a marvelous, refreshing treat that sates the palate and strengthens the body with vitamins and nutrients.

We are like an orange waiting to be peeled. We have a storehouse of talents that the Lord has given us that lies beneath our surface, waiting to be revealed. Oftentimes we don’t want to take the time to remove the layer of protection. We don’t want to expose ourselves to our fears and vulnerabilities since once we peel away our skin, we are left raw and naked. We don’t want the world to see our weaknesses, and we don’t want to expend the physical, emotional and spiritual energy it takes to reveal our true selves. Yet, without the exposure, we lose out on the true beauty of the fruit.

Let’s look at our orange again. If we leave it sitting around, it either becomes shrunken as it breaks down on the inside, or it gets moldy and rotten. Either way, what lay beneath the outer skin is no longer there. It has wasted away. Its purpose no longer exists because it now cannot be eaten and enjoyed.

If we don’t make the effort to get our nails dirty in order to delve into the gifts God gave us, we will be like that old orange. We will become useless instead of useful. We will be wasting away instead of fulfilling our purpose of glorifying God. We may not end up in the trash or the compost pile like a rotten orange, but we will know deep in our hearts that something was lacking; something was left undone.

Risk the exposure. Risk the time. Because when we correctly use those special talents the Lord has individually given us, we will one day hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant…” (Matt. 25:21a).