This Fruit got me. Just like Eve in the garden with the one fruit she couldn’t eat, I was faced with a fruit I couldn’t eat. Have a seat at my table with some coffee and I’ll tell you my orange story and Eve in the Garden.
I love oranges. Each day I usually eat one orange of any variety. I eat it for breakfast, for a snack, with lunch, or dessert. They are that good and I also can say full of nutrients.
Florida Oranges- the start of the Orange Story
When we visit family in Florida, they have groves of oranges we drive past every day. It’s like a Giant Garden that goes on and on, but it only has rows of Oranges. Around Christmas time, the trees are loaded with bright colored oranges ready to be picked. The trees look like oranges could fall off into your hands- or so it seems to me.
Every time we drive by orange trees I have this urge to go pick an orange. Maybe I can just get the orange laying by the tree on the ground, I thought
I asked if they let people pick the oranges on the ground. The answer is “no”. Of course, that is what I thought. It is private property and if you pick even one you are stealing. Believe me, my mind thinks about all the details.
The Orange Desire
The next day we drove by the orange trees again and I even had a greater desire to stop the car and go pick an orange laying on the ground. I surprised myself. Where did this come from?
I know in my mind and heart it was wrong, but something in me just wanted to pick an orange. Maybe I wanted to pick an orange because I knew I could not.
I am a rule follower and wouldn’t pick an orange because my conscience wouldn’t let me and I have thought of how I would get into trouble. An Enneagram 6 person thinks of the worst-case scenario. Why was this was even tempting to me?
Tempted like Eve in the Garden
That’s when I finally realized what Eve was going through in the Garden when she was tempted by the serpent to eat the fruit. The difference- no one was tricking me to eat the oranges and I knew it was wrong. I already knew what oranges tasted like. Eve had no idea what the fruit tasted like.
No one would know if I picked one except for myself, my family, and God. I guess this isn’t a good reason, because it was only Adam, the Serpent, and God that knew. That alone was enough to make me say no. I couldn’t Live with the idea everyone would know I had disobeyed the law and I was disobeying God.
Conflict in Eve
At this point, I got a better idea about the conflict that Eve went through. Something inside Eve would not let go and she went for it. I now understand the conflict she agonized over. It’s like I had a little compassion for her sin and could see how she had been easily entangled in it.
No more judging Eve for tasting the forbidden fruit. We all deal with temptation like Eve. It’s sin if we act on it as Eve did.
From Eve’s lesson and lessons of many others, I learned it’s best to follow the rules and let oranges lay on the ground. I have been given past perspective and Eve did not have her own written story. This was the first sin. We all can use her as our “Not to” example and understand the war that wages within us.
Sin Prevention
One way to prevent sin in our life is to pray. Pray that you see temptation within you as a potential sin and immediately run from it. In my case. I immediately shared the story and ponderings in my head with my family.
This was a great learning example to understand the crazy things we think and where it could take us. It helped me look at the all too familiar story in Genesis in the Garden in a different light.
Keep Praying
Jesus said this to the disciples at the Garden of Gethsemane while they were sleeping when they should have been praying. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26.41
Next time you eat a fruit…which should be daily… be reminded of the sin Eve encountered in the Garden and Pray that you will not be tempted by sin or even an “orange.” Let this Orange Story and Eve in the Garden sink into your thoughts for the day.
Orange Story Nutrition and Recipe
Because I love oranges so much, I used some of the oranges we purchased to make a Citrus Quinoa Bowl Recipe we made and ate in Florida. This is an easy meal to eat with oranges and orange zest. See the link to the Florida Citrus Fruit and Orange Quinoa Bowls for the complete recipe.
Orange Facts just for you
Nutrition composition of an orange
- 1 small clementine: 30-35 calories.
- 1 medium orange: about 60 calories
- An orange contains 4 grams of fiber along with Vitamin C, potassium, phosphorus, B vitamins, antioxidants, and flavonoids
If you want more benefits of oranges for your diet and the citrus quinoa bowl recipe see the blog link above.
If you want more information on the nutritional benefits of grapefruit see The Goodness of Grapefruit blog link.
