Galileo Galilei, grapes, and a pear

"The Sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do."
--Galileo Galilei

Isn't that lovely?

Symbolism is quite nice, don't you think?

I do.

I like thinking of all the things the Sun represents....

Life.
Warmth.
Growth.
Consistency.
New beginnings.
Order.
The Savior.

I think that Galileo had an interesting insight here. Let us remember that even things that are big and powerful and necessary and probably at times dauntingly important remember and take time for things that are little, just because they bring joy and an order to the system.

What would life be without the grapes to make it sweet?

The other day I had a very revelatory experience. I will tell you about it because we are friends, and I believe you won't laugh at me. (If you do, it's probably okay though.)

I was eating lunch, and I had a pear in my bag.

That's not all, but you must realize that I have had a week of considering my...weaknesses. Faults. Imperfections. Shortcomings. ...Bruises, if you will.

It was a funny thing, I took that pear out of my bag, and as I held it in my hand I felt like

...I SAW it for the first time.

How perfect it was. How miraculous it was! To think that a little seed had produced an entire tree which had produced such delightful creations. I looked at its stem - a reminder of where it's been. And then I considered the seeds hidden deep inside - a reminder of where it's going. I was absolutely overcome by the miracle of nature. That such a beautiful creation could be here right in my hand - sweet and soft and scented.

And then I turned it over, and it had a little bruise on it.

Oh my.

What a beautiful exquisite thing it was. I saw it so wholly that I would never deny that it was just lovely the way it was exactly and absolutely fulfilling its purpose with its nice Bosc color. I thought to myself that the bruise wasn't a flaw...it was simply an indication of living...of the effects of growth and of actually being involved in the world...of being affected by it. I saw that bruise not as a mistake or a shame but as a triumphant evidence that that pear was REAL.

Then I had a few tears in my eyes.

Are you laughing about that?

Maybe, but I can't tell you...it just gave me so much peace.

We all have flaws. Bruises. Painful places that indicate where we've fallen or where we've learned the hard way or way we've just place gotten jabbed by something unfortunate.

But all they are are indicators that we are ALIVE and GROWING and WORTH SOMETHING because...look how far we've come. With our bits that show where we've come from - like how I have Allen feet - and deep inside are pieces of what we will become.

Ernest Hemingway, in A Farewell to Arms, said:

"The world breaks everyone and afterwards many are strong at the broken places."

I like that.

I remember one time when I was little my brother Spencer and I were telling a neighbor that we didn't like to eat the bruises on bananas. He had given us one to share that had several big spots on it. We thought they were icky.

He smiled and said,

"Oh really? I like those parts. They are sweeter than the rest of it."

And then we fought over the last of the banana.