MY APPLE TREE

In my back yard was a very special tree. It was an apple tree that produced exceptionally tasty red apples that were firm, crisp, juicy, and just great tasting. The tree is healthy and strong. It will produce fruit for many years to come. A lot of people will take pleasure in its delicious fruit. But, it was not always like this. I planted it as a mere one year old stripling along with other trees some 15 years ago. During its second year I uncovered the growth that surrounded its trunk and discovered that insects had eaten most of the tender bark just above the graft. The tree was almost destroyed as its ability to receive nutrients from the soil was limited to a thin strip of bark less than the size of a pencil that connected the bottom root stock with the grafted apple tree.

Frankly, I thought I had lost the tree. But, that thin strand of bark gave me some hope. In the weeks that followed, I tended that tree like a wet nurse cares for a newborn child. I got down on my hands and knees and pulled the grass and weeds away. I erected barriers to prevent further insect damage. Year after year I watched the bark grow and advance, millimeter by millimeter. It took several years for the bark to grow halfway around the trunk of the tree. And, the tree was still about as small as when I planted it.

And then one year there were two or three apples that showed up on its knobby little limbs. I watched those apples slowly grow, only one survived. I finally ate that one apple and found that my apple tree was producing a very tasty apple, as good as any I have eaten. It certainly beat the apples I bought at the market. I was more determined than ever to save this tree. About the 5th or 6th year of its struggle, we moved to another house. It may sound silly to you, but one of the last loads I moved from that property was my apple tree. In the dark of night a friend helped me dig a big hole around the tree. We laid the tree on its side and slid an old trash barrel under its roots. Then we pulled that tree up and laboriously pushed, pulled, and rolled that trash container into the bed of a pickup truck. I thought we had finally killed it. Roots were torn and then folded over to be squeezed into that plastic trash container to be hauled away to another house. I really did not think it would survive. But I had a glimmer of hope, and a little tiny bit of faith in the nature of life and the survival of trees.

At the new house, we dug another hole to put the tree into, some 3 or 4 feet deep and as wide as it was deep. I put the best soil mix with the best tree food into that hole. And then we planted it. We watered it. We tended to it's wounded bark, now closed around three fourths of the trunk. And then we waited to see what would be the destiny of that apple tree. Eventually, the bark closed completely and the trunk showed its first true signs of maturity. It had taken 10 or 11 years, but the tree survived. Now, in September and October, I go outside in the morning hours and pick an apple off that tree.

I have to admit, there is a special relationship between me and that tree. I saved its life. I nursed it to health. I tended it faithfully for many years. Now, I partake of its fruit day after day. After I am gone, others will reach up into its branches in the early morning and enjoy the wonderful taste of a fresh apple picked from the tree.

Matthew 12:18-21 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. [19] He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. [20] A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. [21] And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.

The tender loving care of the Holy Spirit of God has taken each one of us and gently salvaged us from death. Think back to your first years as a Christian, the moment you really said "yes" to God and accepted Jesus as your Savior. You were not exactly an image of Christian maturity and strength, ready to do battle against all of the spiritual Goliath's in town. As a matter of fact, there were probably more than a few people who wondered whether you really would be around in 6 months to sing Victory in Jesus. If you think back to your first days and weeks and months as a new born Christian, you were very much like my little apple tree with just a very thin piece of living bark connecting you to your life source.

But The Master Gardener tended to you in the garden and protected you and nurtured you and fed you, and you became stronger and stronger as each day passed. Then one day you produced fruit, and your caretaker was pleased and happy. Now, perhaps, you are producing fruit on a regular and continual basis making your gardening friend well pleased indeed. Never forget that a bruised reed He shall not break, nor smoking flax will He ever quench. He is the ultimate gardener of the soul, who chooses to bring health and healing to his people.

Wouldn't you say that the investment our God has in each one of us calls for a lot of fruit production on our part.