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&
Brooksyne Weber
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Thursday,
August 10, 2023
Watermelon
processing on
Eli's farm.
(Click on photo to enlarge.)
(Click on photo to enlarge.)
"Thank
God For The Watermelon!"
Note:
Today's
message is
admittedly
light on
Biblical
exposition but
hopefully our
consideration
of one of
God's many
blessings will
remind us of
all His
blessings.
Message
summary:
Today
most of us
will be
ingesting some
type of
"seed-bearing
plant"
according to
God’s
provision in
Genesis 1:29.
Let us praise
God from whom
all blessings
flow,
including the
blessing of a
tasty sweet
watermelon
with or
without seeds!
Listen to our message on your audio player.
“Then
God said, ‘Let
the land
produce
vegetation:
seed-bearing
plants and
trees on the
land that bear
fruit with
seed in it,
according to
their various
kinds.’ And it
was so”
(Genesis
1:11). “Then
God said, ‘I
give you every
seed-bearing
plant on the
face of the
whole earth
and every tree
that has fruit
with seed in
it. They will
be yours for
food’”
(Genesis
1:29). “He
makes grass
grow for the
cattle, and
plants for man
to cultivate—
bringing forth
food from the
earth” (Psalm
104:14).
Yesterday I rode up the road and passed our neighbor Eli's farm. A Lancaster Farm Fresh co-op truck drove down his lane so I knew he must have harvested something fresh. I followed the truck down the dusty lane to check it out. The truck was there to pick up watermelons freshly picked from the field.
Yesterday I rode up the road and passed our neighbor Eli's farm. A Lancaster Farm Fresh co-op truck drove down his lane so I knew he must have harvested something fresh. I followed the truck down the dusty lane to check it out. The truck was there to pick up watermelons freshly picked from the field.
Eli
and his sons
were
processing the
melons for
shipment
(photo above).
He told me he
had a good
harvest and
expected to
have
watermelon for
several weeks
at the small
produce stand
at the end of
his lane which
we have
enjoyed for
several years.
He had many
large boxes
like the ones
seen in our
photo today
that you often
see on a skid
in the
supermarket.
How
many of our
readers like a
cold, juicy
slice of
watermelon? I
would think
almost
everyone. If
not, what's
wrong with
you! Eli
shared some
fresh, right
from the field
watermelon
with me.
Although it
was not
chilled it was
still sweet
and tasty.
Mark
Twain
described the
watermelon,
"When one has
tasted it, he
knows what the
angels eat".
Ester would
agree with
Mark Twain.
When she was
three years
old recovering
from an open
heart surgery
she would eat
nothing the
nurses brought
to her. After
days of
refusing to
eat, finally
the doctor
gave into
Brooksyne’s
plea to give
her
watermelon.
They'd been
refusing her
request since
watermelon is
mostly water
and they felt
it was calorie
deficient for
what Ester
needed at the
time. But
finally they
gave in and
when they did
she devoured
it. It's still
her favorite
fruit!
Over
1,200
varieties of
watermelon are
grown in 96
countries.
Asia is the
continent with
the largest
watermelon
production,
more than 80%
of the
world-wide
production.
Africa, Europe
and North
America have
similar
productions,
around 3-4
million annual
tons. But they
also grow
watermelon in
Brazil and
Costa Rica so
it's pretty
much
world-wide.
Watermelon
contains about
92 percent
water so its
name makes
perfect sense!
Our friend
Rick Steudler
grows
watermelons in
his home
garden (not
commercially)
and muses
about the
marvel of
going out to
his patch and
observing that
the soil
around the
plant is bone
dry. Then he
wonders aloud,
"Where does
the watermelon
get all that
water?" We
also wonder
where all that
sugary
sweetness
comes from! Is
dirt sweet
when packaged
in a hard
shell?In Belton, Missouri, the small town I lived in till I was in high school, we had watermelon eating contests where children and grown-ups alike enthusiastically contested against each other for who could consume the most. Brooksyne’s relatives on the mountain top in Arkansas grow delicious watermelons, mostly seeded. Of course like most kids we wondered if eating the seeds would cause a watermelon to grow inside us!
Many
of us recall
eating
watermelon as
kids and
spitting out
the seeds,
which by the
way is one of
the only
acceptable
times to spit
in
public.
I’ve even
participated
in seed
spitting
contests where
contestants
are cheered on
for their
spitting
skills but I
was never the
winner.
Perhaps I was
too timid to
be bold in
public
spitting,
since I was
raised to
think it a
nasty habit to
be practiced
only when
others aren't
looking.Wikipedia records that a young girl, Victoria, won her age group in 2010 with a spit of 36 feet. In 2012 her 17 year old brother, A.J., broke the youth record in Luling Texas, when he spat a seed 58 feet 9 1/2 inches. That's more than half the length of a basketball court. Victoria and A.J. must come from a family with heavy duty healthy lungs! (The adult seed-spitting world record, set in 1989, is 68 feet 9 1/8 inches.)
But in our adult years we have come to appreciate the seedless watermelon. Actually the “seedless” watermelon has some seeds but they’re so soft you eat them without even being aware of it, kind of like a banana seed. Or did you not know you have been eating banana seeds all along? Within a generation, many won’t even know that watermelons have seeds (at least the hard black kind), let alone the joy of eating them right off the rind and spitting out the seeds that is a childhood memory for many of us!
Ultimately seedless watermelons are grown from seeds and the process in the development of the "seedless" varieties is beyond my scientific understanding. However they are not genetically modified, as some might assume, but rather hybrids that have been grown in the United States since the middle of the 20th century. (See below for to an explanation.)
Watermelons aren’t specifically mentioned in the Bible, along with many other fruit we enjoy such as bananas and oranges. However early in the creation account we have this gift from God to the human race: "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food".
We enjoy preparing these messages for people from all over the world and often consider the many, many things we have in common regardless of where we live. Today virtually all of us will be ingesting some type of "seed-bearing plant" according to God’s provision in Genesis 1:29. Let us praise God from whom all blessings flow, including the blessing of a sweet, juicy watermelon with or without the seeds!
Daily
prayer:
Father, we are
abundantly
blessed with
foods of all
kinds, both
vegetable and
fruit, meat
and bread.
Thank you for
those who
diligently
work the land
and reap the
harvest that
we might place
food on our
tables and be
nurtured
physically.
You make the
grass grow for
the cattle,
and plants for
man to
cultivate—bringing
forth food
from the
earth. All we
have needed
Your hand has
provided.
Great is Your
faithfulness,
Lord, unto me.
Amen.William Jennings Bryan observed:
"I
have observed
the power of
the watermelon
seed. It has
the power of
drawing from
the ground and
through itself
200,000 times
its weight.
When you can
tell me how it
takes this
material and,
out of it,
colors an
outside
surface beyond
the imitation
of art, and
then forms
inside of it a
white rind and
within that
again a red
heart, thickly
inlaid with
black seeds,
each one of
which in turn
is capable of
drawing
through itself
200,000 times
its
weight--when
you can
explain to me
the mystery of
a watermelon,
you can ask me
to explain the
mystery of
God."
Today's
Suggested Music and Supplemental
Resources