“The peaches are awful. They are mealy, not juicy.”

It had been six days wince Kathi and I stood in Winco’s produce section eying the peaches. We were to co-host the Watoto Children’s Choir from Uganda that evening, and we were shopping for healthy snacks.

The fruit was peachy in color with rosy highlights, round, and without blemish.

I reached out to caress one and turned with the pronouncement, “They’re hard. I remember–decades ago–there was a little give to a peach when it was lightly touched. That’s why I don’t buy them any more.”

They looked so good–in fact, downright tempting. Kathi filled a bag with them.

At home, she placed them in a large bowl beside apples, bananas, and grapes. Setting on her island counter, they were picture perfect.

However, the Ugandan guests did not choose to eat any of the fruit except the grapes. After their departure, Kathi ate a peach and texted me about its disappointing condition.

“Yucky,” I responded. “Like so many things, peaches just are not what they used to be.”

Writing those words set me to thinking about the many things that are no longer the same in my life: my marital status, my address and phone number, my sense of smell, my profession and occupations, ELECTRONIC UPDATES (Lord, have mercy!). The list goes on and on.

So do I, adapting to the changes, encouraged to hold fast by such verses as I Thessalonians 5:18 and Philippians 4:6-7. Here they are presented respectively from the Christian Standard Version.

>Give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. >Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your request to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Years ago in a faculty meeting, a colleague made a point that I’ve not forgotten. “We are called to be content.”

If as Christians our prime directive is “Love one another,” its sister is “be content.” Our directives are relatively few and simply stated. Living them is only difficult because our sin makes us proud, power hungry, protection needy, and panic prone.

That’s why God gave His own Spirit to live in us, strengthening us to humbly trust and rest in Him while we obey Him.

So, Lord, we pray again for your empowerment to trust and obey You as the old song says:

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.