Peeling Oranges

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6 (ESV)

And you know you're getting old when you start to peel oranges ...

I remember, amid memories of the good times, my mother peeling oranges for me and my brother when I was a kid. In our kid's eyes seemed that peel oranges was a very dangerous machinery: to see a sharp knife sliding through the shell of the orange fruit in anticipation of the delicious juice dripping from our lips. We did not eat the pulp of the orange, we only drank the tasty juice.

My mother always managed to peel an orange without cutting the white membrane, so the juice would not be dripping in our hands. My grandfather offered his nine children the famous 'cup' orange, she told us. After peeling the orange and leave it with the white membrane intact, he made a hole on top of it to take the juice of orange. I was always wondering how many oranges were peeled in one afternoon for the whole family.

While my mother peeled the oranges my brother and I were always playing to see who would be the first to hold the starting end of the orange peel. Often, only one of us ended with the entire strip of orange peel. It was never fun to stay only with small strips of orange peel, but my mother reminded us that there would be more oranges to peel soon and we did not have to fight for it. My mind wandered a little more and I started to remember many family gatherings where after lunch one of my aunts began to peel oranges for all the nieces and nephews and the dispute with the orange peel was always the same.

A short time ago I started to peel oranges. I do not remember having done it before. After I have married I never peeled an orange for me or my husband, because he also did not have that habit. Even after my daughter was born, grown and now being a year of going to university, I do not remember even peeled an orange for any of us. For me the act of peeling oranges was always done by a mother. Whether my mother, or women that God has placed in my way as my mother. So I confess that when I peel two oranges this morning for myself, I felt a certain nostalgia in the air. I did not try to get the entire strip of orange peel at once. I also remembered that there will always be more oranges to be peeled and who knows if that time I will finish with the entire strip of an orange pell in my hands.

Often I feel like an orange which will be peeled.  Some days an orange peel strip is long and good; in other days the white membrane will be damaged and juice will be wasted; there will also be days when the orange had been waiting to be peeled until wither slowly. And there will be some days where the fruit is in the correct color, is at the point to be peeled and certainly the juice of this orange will be very sweet. So in my heart comes the memory of God's faithfulness in an absolute way that He takes care of me. Even when I'm in pieces, injured or in half, He will always renew me until I become whole with him again. Completeness.