Frost Works Sweetness
Object LessonNature NuggetAnalogy★★★★Frost Works Sweetness: The Persimmon Ripens Through Trial persimmon, that now seem fair and ready to eat, that are most bitter and disagreeable. But the coming frosts will somehow work to change all the acids and bitterness into a most luscious and wholesome fruit. So earthly trials work to change the sour, selfish, disagreeable spirits of some Christians into a genuine sweetness. And there are many who keep up the fair form of a Christian profession who need some like power to remove their disposition to bitterness of criticism and sourness of temper.
The point
An analogy from nature: frost transforms bitter persimmons into sweet fruit, just as earthly trials can turn sour, critical Christian tempers into genuine sweetness.
The lesson
God can use hard times to make us sweeter, just like frost makes persimmons sweet.