We usually think of the passing of a year in terms of months or seasons; Identifying our planet’s place in our solar system, our planet’s rotation, and our moon’s location. That’s normal and a good and expected thing. On another level, I think of the year rotating between hot and humid and cold and wet. My most enjoyable way is to think of the year passing in terms of flavors; snow ice cream, strawberries, fresh vegetables, peaches, potatoes, turkey, and end the year with homemade fudge. That’s my yearly “flavor” calendar.
As I write this, we are between strawberries and peaches. We are on the front edge of blackberry season. A few peaches are beginning to show up, but I am most anticipating the Georgia freestone peaches. (They don’t have to be from Georgia; that’s an identifier I have for describing them.)
I had a white peach in my Cheerios this morning. It was good but not very satisfying. If anything, it only made my anticipation of “real” peaches that much more intense. It’s not too unlike being homesick. I’m peach “flavor-sick.” Just writing about this is causing my salivatory glands to work overtime. (Excuse me for a moment, I’ve got to go get a paper towel.)
WILL MY DESIRE FOR PEACHES EVER BE SATISFIED?! HOW LONG, O LORD, MUST I WAIT? GRANT ME MY PETITION, O LORD, FOR I AM YOUR DESPERATE SERVANT! (All caps, as you know, is my shouting out in the misery of delayed fulfillment.)
Do you think God will reorder Creation to accommodate my desire? I certainly hope not. For at least two reasons. First, anticipation is one of God’s great gifts to humanity so we can enjoy this wonder-filled world. Anticipation heightens the experience of fulfillment. Anticipation is a gift from God. Among anticipation’s purposes is the building up of patience and humility.
A second reason is Creation’s call for all things to worship the Creator. All Creation can be broken down into two parts: the stuff God created and the “order” in which those things exist. Humans cannot change either. Indeed, we can cause some blips in both, but we cannot actually change anything. We can change the “form” of something created, but we cannot actually cause it to exit Creation.
Where this fact intersects the whole of my person is a brilliant establishment of hope. God will not change; He will inevitably bring freestone peaches to harvest no matter what I do or want. I can count on Him to keep His seasons as well as His promises. I do not often understand why or how, but His Creating will always exalt His magnificent love. That event, those events, seasonally and eternally, create incredible anticipation in me.
My fleshly self, and the prompting of Evil, birth doubt during the delay of my anticipations. But God has given me and you, an antidote – His written Word. The more we come to know Him through it, the stronger our confidence becomes in the inevitable fulfillment of His plans.
“For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration— “plans for your well-being (peaches fit in here), not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:11, CSV (I shouldn’t need to say this, but the parentheses are this author’s.)
Photo – I do not have a single peach picture. And, did not know it until now. This a barn on the south side of Long Hollow Pk.
Baldwin Heirlooms 
There is nothing like a fresh peach! I grew up in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, an orchard county famous for their peaches. I didn’t realize how spoiled we were until I moved to Kentucky and fresh local fruit was not readily available. The Food City South Carolina peaches have been pretty good this year though.
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