This pink oval is called Dragon Fruit.  The plant itself is a type of cactus, but this beautiful non-prickly cultivation had me baffled.  Especially once I was told it was a delicious piece of edible fruit. I wondered what it looked like on the inside.

This is what Dragon Fruit looks like after it is cut in half. I never expected it to be black and white and juicy. Because it is pink and fibrous outside, I was expecting pink and fibrous inside. I was wrong.

This fruit reminds me of the many times I offer a false front. This Dragon Fruit – and understand the name leads to misinterpretation as well because the flavor is not “hot” in any way – is a perfect example of how society tries to put our own spin on reality, when only God knows what is really “inside” each one of us.

Only God knows the direction of our hearts when we think, speak and act. I may try to demonstrate that I am doing a good deed, simply because that is what is expected of me. But God, my Creator, knows me inside and out. He knows if my conduct is genuine on the outside and on the inside. God can not be fooled by kind actions or positive words that cover up misdirected hearts.

• Sometimes my kind actions of helping my mother, cover up my true feeling of “I have personal things of my own that need done.”
• Sometimes my positive words to a new store clerk intern, cover up my true feeling of “Your job can’t be that hard, what’s the problem?”

There is nothing overly hurtful in projecting goodness to others when we may not feel goodness deep inside us. But our hearts should match our deeds. Like every heart muscle that requires exercise, the more we understand the need to do and say good deeds with genuinely caring hearts, the more our hearts will grow to be genuine in action and speech.

We Lift Him Up each time ours hearts are true.

To order my new book, Lift Him Up don’t Pull Him Down, go to Lulu.com or Amazon.com.