Do Not Eat The Oranges....

Our 12-year-old granddaughter was attending "Standards Night" at the church tonight and our kids reminded me how I broached this subject with them. I found a book, way back when, called "Love and Oranges". It was written by Marvin Payne, the father in the Saturday's Warrior movie. I used a chapter in the book to teach our children about abstaining from sex before marriage. The premise was that they are walking along a sidewalk in life and next to the sidewalk is a conveyor belt loaded with oranges. The oranges represent the sexual relationship between a woman and a man. There is a sign that says, "Do Not Eat The Oranges" because they are the Lord's oranges. Pretty soon they come to a tunnel with a sign over the entrance that says "Marriage". They go through the tunnel and when they come out on the other side, they are married and the Lord is standing on the outside. He is taking the oranges from the conveyor belt and giving them to the newlyweds, for they are His gift to them. After that, every time one of our children left on a date, I would remind them, "Don't Eat the Oranges"....It became a family joke, but they got the message. I even carried it a little further. After the wedding reception, as they were leaving for the honeymoon, I presented them with a basket. In the basket was Orange soda, Orange crackers, Orange cheese, Orange Cheetos, Orange candy, and of course Oranges with a big Orange bow on top.