THE UN-CUTTABLE MANGO

Tuesday;  June 12, 2012

By: Natalie Foreverland

One of my student’s parents gave me some cucumbers from their garden, so I decided that was what I would eat for my midnight snack.  Along with it, I decided to eat a mango that I’ve had on the counter since Thursday.  The mango was extremely ripe because I failed to put it in the refrigerator after I bought it at the fruit stand on Thursday.  As I cut into it, it was almost un-cuttable.  It was so ripe, the fibers oozed juice.  It was still delicious and insatiably juicy, yet un-cuttable.   It just sort of gently partitioned itself.

 

I started thinking.  I wonder if that’s how it works with our hearts.  God makes them so tender that they simply can’t be cut.  I teach children.  I am mesmerized by their actions.  They make me feel like I’m Peter Pan in a fairytale land.  I remember watching a sweet little girl one time being made fun of.   She didn’t even notice it. When I tried to talk to her about it, she appeared oblivious as if she thought the rude children, just had a bad day.  She was un-cuttable. 

 

I remember one night Cort and I were making valentines to give out to the kids at school the next day.  He had a crush on one little girl in-particular.  He wrote, I love you,” in the Valentine card.  I said, “Cort you can’t do that, she already told you, she’s not sure she really likes you.”  He said, “Mom, I don’t care if she doesn’t love me, I still love her.”  I wept. 

 

Here I am trying to protect my own child from rejection.  Yet he has no concept of it’s pain or even the meaning of the word.  He only knows that he loves someone, regardless of whether they love him back.  He is un-cuttable.  What would that be like?  I try to imagine myself so ripe and full of God’s love that I am un-cuttable.  Is that how our heart remains guarded yet still remains a heart of flesh?  I think the answer to that question is multifaceted and intricately woven together in many different layers.  Layers that my brain simply doesn’t have the energy to ponder at the moment.   But I know God’s promise,  “I will take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” 

 

I know my Father always keeps His promises.  So for now I’ll wait, while I ponder, the un-cuttable mango.