On Jesus and National Chocolate-Covered Cherry Day
By Jessica Brodie
I have some HUGE news, and for all of you who’ve just made “no more chocolate” resolutions for New Year, I’m really, truly sorry about this.
But…. IT’S NATIONAL CHOCOLATE-COVERED CHERRY DAY!
I know! This is awesome! I didn’t even know there was such a thing as National Chocolate-Covered Cherry Day, but there is, and it’s today, January 3!
Now, for those of you who don’t know this, I’m obsessed with fruit. It’s pretty much my favorite food, my go-to snack, and my everyday dessert (who needs cake?). But I love chocolate, too. And when you combine fruit and chocolate, wowza. I’m not so much a fan of chocolate-covered fake fruit, but real blueberries, cherries, or raspberries dipped in chocolate, especially dark chocolate? Whoa, Nelly.
But as excited as I am about National Chocolate-Covered Cherry Day, there are a few downfalls. One, chocolate-covered cherries are full of sugar and not very good for me (or my waistline). Two, too much joy in the form of chocolate-covered cherries can give me a stomachache and sometimes a headache—they’re good, but only in moderation. And three, the joy I get from them is fleeting. Once I’m done, I have to eat more or the joy drifts away.
This thought reminds me of the Gospel of John, specifically John 4:4-42, where we see Jesus, a Jew, talking with a Samaritan woman at a well. Jesus asks the woman for a drink of water, and she is taken aback, as Jews and Samaritans aren’t supposed to be talking with each other. She asks why in the world he’d be asking her for a drink. Jesus replies, “If you recognized God’s gift and who is saying to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would be asking him and he would give you living water” (John 4:10 CEB).
This “living water,” Jesus tells her, never runs out and satisfies us completely and forever.
“Whoever drinks from the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I give will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into eternal life,” he says (John 4:14).
Regular water, like chocolate-covered cherries, is great. It satisfies for a time. But like everything of earth, it’s temporary. It doesn’t last.
The living water we find through Jesus, however, is for always.
So today, I might indulge in a few chocolate-covered cherries for fun. They are quite yummy, after all. But when it comes to eternity, they’re just a fleeting thought. What I really want, today and always, is Jesus.