Wild Pears

Wild Pears

When first I heard it, it sounded like a stiff petticoat
or a rainstorm but it was only frantic leaves in a strong breeze.
The first time I sat high enough to make the starlings nervous
thorns drew blood.

Wild pear trees are less hospitable than apple trees.
Apples spread their branches wide and make a lap for you.
Uncivilized pears are narrow in the hips and stingy on invitations.

You might suspect that attitude would leach into the fruit
but you would be wrong. Feral pears are as sweet as
their pedigreed relations. You might not know unless you
tasted one.

I know some people who live on the street. Some are wild as
pears. They have thorns. They throw around, "God Bless"
but might as well be saying, "Go to Hell." It is easier to
pass them by than get a ladder.

I have to prayerfully remember that Jesus didn't come for the fruit
made for a still-life. He came for the feral fruit. Wild, hard to pick, 
well defended and unclaimed. He came for a hidden sweetness.

So I am learning to keep a ladder in my heart.

-kl

The LORD doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7