My daughters and I love grapefruit.  We like the large ones with pink centers.  We love the citrusy taste offset by the sweetness of a little sugar (Stevia for me the diabetic).  We love them cold from the refrigerator.  The exhilaration of the sensory blend of smell, taste and temperature delivers something very satisfying…and they’re good for you too.

We can have the most beautiful grapefruits sitting in our refrigerator calling out to be enjoyed and they will rot there unless I prepare them for our daughters.  I have spoiled them over the course of their lives by slicing that fruit in half, carefully cutting each triangular piece down the sides and along rind.  Then sprinkling sugar over the prepared pieces, allowing them to be easily spooned out and enjoyed with little to no effort.  

I love watching Malia & Kensley enjoy the ‘fruit’ of my labor.  If you ask them why they love grapefruit, they will tell you they love the flavor and that I prepare them ‘just right.’  Ask me what I love about grapefruit, I will tell you that I love the flavor and the joy that results from the preparation.  We have a symbiotic relationship.  The girls want the result of my labor of love and I love their joy and response.

I am beginning a process to deliver an online talk and then I believe I am being led to deliver talks where invited about life, experience, success, failure, goals, hope, joy, faith and so much more.  Talks that are the result of 30+ years of preparation.  Talks that are the result of many, many roads travelled.  Roads filled with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.  Talks from the perspective of a very limited person, allowed to have done and do unlimited things by my Creator.  The amazing thing is the “launching” talk will be 10-15 minutes in length, developed by a professional team gifted in aggregating a message honed from 30 years experience, take 6-9 months to create the concise message, practice the delivery and then be prepared to deliver with authority, authenticity and humility.  30 years wrapped in 15 minutes, taking 9 months to craft for most effective impact.

Wouldn’t it be interesting if we could ask the Disciples and then Jesus a simple question, “what was your favorite part of your 3 years together?”  Stay with me here as I take the liberty of conjecture.  I can hear the disciples falling over one another to tell of one miracle after another.  Of water into wine, of walking on water and laughing about Peter sinking.  Of demons being reduced to drowning in pigs.  Of a few fish and loaves of bread feeding 20,000+ (they only counted the men back then).  I can hear them sharing of life’s purpose coming into focus as they left nowhere careers for the freeing of ministry and impact.  I can hear them in my mind sounding like little children as they shared ‘their favorite moments and events.’

“Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”  Matthew 19:14 (NIV)

Then it would be Jesus’ turn to share his favorite part of the 3 years and I believe he would say, ‘today.  Time.  The walking and talking.  The sharing of our hearts.  Watching their hearts and minds move from measuring to sharing.  Seeing achievement be defined in ways that please my Father.  My favorite was and is the laughter that my hope delivers.  My favorite is the blending of many different personalities and life experiences into a cause that transcends and denies what this World says is important.  My favorite was the dust on our sandals, the stars we slept under, the food we shared and the simplicity of the sparrows call as we sat and ponder and sang and prayed.  My favorite was the mundane and my favorite is the purpose.’

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”  Matthew 10:29-31 (NIV)

So how do I draw comparison of grapefruit to a life fulfilled?  Simple.  The grapefruit if the reward.  The gift to the preparer is the joy in watching it be eaten.  The gift for the recipient is the love for the preparer and the fulfillment of the fruit.  All delivered by a seed planted years before.

Take a look around today.  You have one day less to delivered your unique love.  You have been gifted one day more to say and show, “I love you.”  Love is enough and genuine love exemplified through simple actions is too marvelously beautiful to adequately describe.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”  1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV)

Let’s go.