Cranberries

Colossians 3:16-17 – Christ's message in all its richness must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct one another with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts. Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks through him to God the Father. (GNB)

Last fall, my parents went to a cranberry festival in the Muskoka district of central Ontario, Canada. Along with all the cranberry-related activities, they could purchase "fresh-from-the-farm" berries. They bought some for the whole family, and, since then, I have been putting cranberries in everything.

Recently I made a Jell-O salad with them. I had to cook the cranberries until they popped, before putting them in with the other ingredients. Once their skins split, the sugar could get into the berries, and mellow the flavour.

As I was eating the salad, I bit into a cranberry that had remained whole, and had not popped with the cooking. Instantly, I made a face, in surprise, as it was extremely tart.

How often do we walk through our days "unopened", and in a sour mood? Yet, if we allow Jesus into our lives, our "flavours" will be mellowed. We will have a whole new outlook on life. All we have to do is 'pop open', and let Jesus into our hearts.

Prayer: Loving God, You are waiting for us to open our hearts to You. Help us to accept Christ's message, so that the whole world will know that You walk with us, filling our lives with love. Amen.

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