We're All Worth a Second Look

Mark and I wander over to our favorite fruit stand laden with discounted merchandise labeled “seconds.” A wiry woman says, “These are here because they have some kind of trouble.” I look at her and say with a half grin, “Don’t we all?” We know she means there might be a bruise from a hard landing on unrelenting ground. Or there could be a tiny hole where a bug helped itself to dinner.

But that doesn’t deter us, so we choose our imperfect peaches and cart them home with anticipation. I set one on a small plate and split it right down the side with a silver knife. I put the piece in my mouth for an explosion of sweet and tart and summer. I look at the remaining portion and whisper, “Who would have thought you had that in you?” Then I think about how this rings true to life—we all have parts of our hearts or stories that we think don’t measure up. We call them unworthy and “less than” and put them to the side. But I have found that those are the places where glory and beauty are likely to show up and shout “Surprise!”

I thought “seconds” meant “not best.” Maybe it really means “worth a second look.”

This is an excerpt from our 365-day A Moment to Breathe Devotional Journal.