September 14

Today you'll have to forgive me for being cliche. It's just a good message that's worthy of regular repetition so here we go.

The apple tree in the yard is teeming with fruit right now, so I went outside to pick a few that I could cut up for the boys to have after school.

After conducting a careful inspection of my crop, I wound up choosing four, and brought them inside. All four had skin that was the perfect shade of sun-kissed blush. Two had a few visible dark spots and the other two looked perfect, with nary a blemish in sight.

As I sliced into the first two apples --the two with the pock-marked exteriors-- I took a taste of each (the verdict: super sweet and tasty) and tossed the wedges into a bowl. Save a few small dark spots that I easily removed, the flesh was perfect.

Then I cut into the third apple --the most outwardly beautiful of the bunch-- and was surprised and dismayed to find that a mealy mess had overtaken the core. I scooped out the muck and cut up the fruit that remained, but the icky stuff made an impression that stuck with me all day long.

It's a simple lesson, really: just because something looks beautiful on the outside doesn't mean that it's beautiful on the inside too. And conversely, the blemished or unremarkable often have the best hearts. So look for what's inside. Peel the onion. Go beyond skin-deep. Because that's where the truth of who we are tends to lie.