When I was about ten years old, my parents took us on a trip out west. We visited two brothers who served as missionaries to the Navajo Indians in New Mexico. Ron’s wife talked about how much her husband enjoyed pinion nuts that only grew in that area. We had never heard of them, but her glowing description left an impression on my parents. We left the missionary’s home to continue our vacation, but mother visited a local grocery store. She found a package of nuts and brought them to us in the car. We all expected to enjoy a treat before supper. Mom passed a handful of brown delicacies to each of us. I thought they resembled peanuts. However, I when I bit down, I found them very hard and bitter.
“These things are disgusting,” Mother said. “How on earth could Ron like them so much?”
As I chewed, I began to realize the problem. “Mom, the inside tastes a lot better than the outside.”
“What?” Mother said. “I assumed they were ready to eat, but I didn’t ask.”
“I think we are eating the hull as well as the nut,” I said.
We all had a good laugh as we began cracking open the outer shell. The nuts inside were quite tasty.
That day we learned that ignorance isn’t bliss. Fortunately, we didn’t suffer any serious injury, but that incident reminds me of the value of life-long learning, especially in spiritual matters.
Proverbs 1:5 says, “A wise man will hear and increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel (Prov. 1:5 NAS)…”
