Apples

As I was crunching into an apple this morning, my mind started wandering through paths that I have not traveled in some time. You see, until recently I was not overly fond of apples. I think I remember liking them some when I was a kid, but over the years, for one reason or another, I fell out of "like" with them.

But this morning, while the sweet juice of the fruit was dripping down my chin, I was enthralled with the amazing flavor of the apple, and I began to cogitate on the deliciousness of my breakfast.

I couldn't help myself - I had to go to the Internet to find out more about this amazing treat. What I discovered was equally as amazing....

Apples were first recorded in history in an area between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea - which now is around Iran and Russia. Apples were introduced to the Americas in the 1600s by European travelers. There are over 621 edible varieties in the United States (those are just the standard ones that are recorded - the estimate is more than a thousand throughout the world). China is the number one apple-producing nation -- the United States comes in second. Washington is the number one apple-producing state in America, with New York following closely behind. The number one variety grown in the U.S. (using 2003 statistics) is the Red Delicious. In 2002 the average American ate 15.8 pounds of fresh apples and 26.4 pounds of processed apples.

This I found really interesting: Planting a tree from a specific apple will not necessarily produce a tree of the same variety - it will be a cross of the tree that it was grown on and the variety that was the cross pollinator!

Finally, apples are a member of the rose family.

"Apple" or "apples" are mentioned only 11 times in the Bible (and no, one of those times is not in the Garden of Eden!). What is interesting is that 5 of those times refer to the "apple of his eye," or something similar to that. I was drawn to Psalm 17:8 -- "Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me under the shadow of Your wings." David's prayer is that God will treat him special - protect him just like a person protects his eyes - just like one protects that which is precious to him.

Could it be that God loves apples as much as I do? Oh, I'm sure that He loves everything that He created - it was all good - but maybe there is something precious about the apple. Maybe He inspired Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, to associate words that are given at the right time with "apples of gold in settings of silver." (Proverbs 25:11)

I don't know how you feel about apples, but I do know how God feels about you. You see, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son to die that you might live. (John 3:16) Not only that, but He has prepared a place for you (John 14:1-3)- and there is a special tree that will grow 12 varieties of fruit - it's called the Tree of Life, and the leaves alone will have power enough to heal the nations.

I don't want to speculate, but do you think it could be possible that at least one of those fruits just might be an apple?

God bless you abundantly!