Plastic Fruit

Perhaps you are old enough to remember the phase that many american households went through, in which bowls of plastic fruit were placed in homes. We had it in my house and I always wondered why. What was the point of that stuff? You couldn't eat it, it was only for show. Yet for a while the fad endured.

I have found myself thinking about it again, but from a different perspective. Could it be that plastic fruit is a powerful metaphor for where many of us find ourselves spiritually? All of us want to look good, we like things that are polished, neat and clean. We like things that require little to no maintenance. There is no tending of the soil to get plastic fruit. No cultivation, no harvesting, no labor of love to ensure its survival. You just go to the store, but it, and put it on display. If we are not careful, that description can be applied to our spiritual lives as well.

The problem with that is, just like that plastic fruit, a plastic spiritual life may look good from a distance, but it cannot sustain life. Far too often we just "go to the store" to get a dose of the spiritual and put it on a shelf. We repeat that process over and over until just like that fruit, the fad passes and we toss it into the trash.

A genuine and authentic spiritual life may be messy, it may be take work, but it is worth the effort. Plus it will sustain your life. So begin the journey and enjoy the fruit.