Falling Fruit

I attempted a fruit cake last month. Nothing special, just a basic sponge with a few currants and raisins thrown in. I mixed in the ingredients, but lo, the fruit was all stuck at the tin’s bottom when I withdrew it from the oven. I was a tad disappointed regarding its appearance, but rest assured, it was not enough to stop me from eating it.

I looked into why my raisins and currants sank. Coated in lubricating oils, they slipped through the mixture, congregating at the bottom like teenagers at the back of a bus. I should have dusted them with flour, which would have made more difficult their descent. How often we fall when we should rise. How easily we slip, tumble, backslide, trip and plummet. Thankfully, our propensity to regress like dogs to vomit is far exceeded by Christ’s priestly ministry of holding us tight. His grip is far stronger than our foot's hold.

For a righteous man may fall seven times

And rise again,

But the wicked shall fall by calamity. (Proverbs 24:16)