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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: PICNIC (07/14/22)
One summer vacation, I and my cousin, planned a bus tour of the country of Greece. We joined the tour at Athens and traveled by the tourist bus all over Greece. We spent the nights at designated hotels. Every morning, after breakfast the bus picked us up and we traveled all day, stopping at places of interest, rest areas, and for lunch breaks. At the end of the day we would have dinner at the next hotel. It was a delightful experience except for the lunch breaks.
The reason was that we spent too much time standing in lines. The bus stopped at a restaurant or dinner and we were thirty passengers and had about one hour. We ended up spending more time waiting at the rest room and the food counter than eating. We both had a smart idea. We packed up a lunch box before we boarded the bus. When the bus stopped we searched for a nice spot in or near the parking lot and had a lovely picnic under the trees.

One of our picnics was in an olive grove near the parking lot. We picked a spot under a large olive tree and proceeded to enjoy our picnic. Glancing up I found the tree was laden with delicious looking purple olives. We decided to have ripe olives for desert. After lunch, I reached up and plucked the best fruit I could find. I happily took a bite, but it tasted so obnoxious I had to spit it out in such hurry that it made my cousin burst out laughing.

"What's the matter ? You look so disgusted, " she laughed.

" Of course , I am disgusted and disappointed. This thing is so incredibly nauseating. I don't think it is an olive. I hope it is not poisoning. Let's ask the Tour Guide what tree this is", I replied.

And so when we returned we asked the Tour Guide.

" That is an olive tree, and no it is not poisonous. But you are not supposed to pluck and eat it right off the tree," he laughed. " Olives have to be soaked in brine and treated before they are ready for human consumption," he added.I felt ashamed for having hastily grabbing the fruit just because it looked edible.

Speculating about my foolishness, I realized that there was a pearl of wisdom in that purple olive. Beauty's attraction is not necessarily the precursor of good things. My experience reminded me of St.John, the apostle's warning against the lust of the eyes. ( 1 John 2:16 KJV). Reminders of God's wisdom and His warnings , like bright pearls, are scattered all around me. I need eyes to see them, mind to comprehend them and a will to follow them. Is it a wonder that God's pearls can appear even at a picnic under an olive tree?
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Member Comments
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Date
Wendi Harrington
07/22/22
Enlightening read. Thank you for sharing.