It was Friday and I was busy cleaning and getting ready for Sabbath as usual. I tossed out an empty bottle of water in the kitchen after crushing it to save space in the trash bag.
Perhaps not even a few minutes after I left the kitchen I heard a very strange sound. I thought maybe because I crushed the bottle and put the lid on it was trying to suck in more air to equalize the pressure. But no, it was not that. The sound was coming from somewhere else.
As I walked toward the table toward the sound, I noticed a fountain of water spraying out of the watermelon on the table. I stared in shock. It didn’t even look like watermelon juice; it was a somewhat cloudy colored liquid but almost clear. I tried to catch the liquid in a plastic container hoping that it would soon stop before making a huge mess, but it kept on spraying and ran onto the floor before it lost enough liquid to stop.
When it did I gently pushed the watermelon into a plastic bag and went outside and emptied the bag. I let it roll down the hill toward the woods for some animals to enjoy. I then come back in and cleaned the mess. It was a very strange day. I had never seen a watermelon explode before, and even stranger the watermelon didn’t even look like it was bad on the outside, and I really didn’t expect the appearance of what came out of it. Friday was such a bad time for this as the Sabbath was soon going to start, although any day would be bad.
I called a relative to see if the table could be washed with bleach because I didn’t want to ruin the material. When she asked why, I joked, “Satan popped the watermelon.” But that experience did have a good lesson. We may manage to look good on the outside while being rotten on the inside for a very long time. I don’t know how long that watermelon sat there, but I didn’t suspect it of being bad, and thought I could still eat it later when there was more space in the fridge to place the leftovers without knowing there was nothing left inside of it that was editable.
But just like that watermelon burst due to the pressure of the internal gasses caused by bacteria and revealed the rottenness within, we too will show our true colors one day. Whatever we do will and does affect us. When we hold onto sin it will corrupt our whole being. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23. We can hide our rotten motives and sins inside good looking behavior but we cannot hide who we really are forever.
We need to change. The Torah says “But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out.” Numbers 32:23. The longer we wait to correct a problem the worse it gets. It will become easier and easier to break under pressure and sin even without it - just like that watermelon that looked solid became so soft it could break without anything else touching it. “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” Proverbs 4:23
Picture originally found here
