The other day, Ana, one of our ministry hosts, pulled a small group of Gap G aside to help her with a task. She lead us into the office where boxes stacked upon boxes of produce stared us in the eye. Our job was to separate the yucky fruit from the edible fruit to bag up for families and children in the community. Ana plopped a big bin of oranges in front of us so we could begin sorting through the fruit. Ana would bravely reach into the tub and grab the moldiest, ickiest, grossest oranges and would fearlessly toss them into our designated bad fruit tub. Meanwhile, I am right next to Ana all squeamish and grossed out, trying my hardest to touch the oranges that had the least amount of mold. Ana would giggle and encourage me with words like. “Be brave, Olivia! It’s ok, you can wash your hands later!” 

As I tried to suck it up and continued to grab the squishy fruit I was reminded of John 15:2. 

"He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." John 15:2

The Lord isn’t disgusted by our bad fruit. He isn't timid when He is pruning us. He gently and lovingly edifies and betters us.

In the end, we had collected all the grody fruit and bagged up all the good, beautiful fruit. That's what our Father does. He takes away our hurt, our sadness, our ickiness, and our shame. He restores us and fills us with comfort, peace, joy, and hope. Our Father makes beautiful things out of the dust. Thanks God, for teaching me such a sweet lesson in the most simplest of acts.