There is a grapefruit tree in the back yards, it leaves a deep dark green. Its trunk and branches crooked and gnarled.  And among it’s many branches are grapefruit whose fruit inside the yellowish golden skin is a light pink and almost sweet to the taste. It still has the twang of a grapefruit, yet it has not the harshness usually associated with grapefruit. As I stood looking at the many grapefruit weighing the limbs down, I noticed one in particular that seemed to be different from all the others. It was still a grapefruit, and like all the others has the same basic appearance. Yet, there was something about it that seemed to separate it from the others. It was the one I wanted. I tried to reach it but it was just out of reach. No amount of effort would put it in my hands. Sadly, I realized that if I didn’t get it soon, it would be too late, for the opportunity would disappear and never be available again. I did try as much as I was able, but there were limits to what I could do. So I was reduced to admiring it from where I stood. And wondering what it would be like to have tasted it’s sweet fruit.

It reminded me that life is full of things like that prized grapefruit in that we would really like to have them, only to find that they are just out of reach. Some we are only able to admire and love from a distance, but never to have. Yet others may be ours only through persistent effort and patience and through the grace of God. Could I be happy or satisfied with the other grapefruit on that tree? Possibly, but for as long as that one special grapefruit remains on the tree, I won’t stop trying. That effort in itself is a gift to myself in that the willingness to persevere  keeps the hope alive that one day I just may succeed.