Apple-picking season brings back fond memories
“He kept him as the apple of his eye.”
— Deuteronomy 32: 10 (NIV)
Gazing out the window at my neighbor’s apple tree brings a warm feeling of apple-picking season.
Growing up, the neighbors behind us had a small apple orchard with about 10 trees. This time of year, the trees were filled with the fruit.
Each fall our neighbors welcomed us to pick those apples. My mother gave us a couple of bushel baskets and my siblings and I spent the afternoon picking up the good ones that fell on the ground.
Bringing our baskets home filled to the brim, my mother would make delicious apple slices for us to eat and enjoy. I recall in the cold winter months, opening the cabinet and grabbing a mason jar filled with sweet-tasting homemade applesauce she canned from our fall pickings.
Over the years, each fall, I often enjoyed the taffy apples with their chewy caramel coating and nuts. I remember one Halloween, a neighbor was handing them out for treats. We were almost tempted to change our costumes to go back for seconds.
As an adult, I enjoyed buying the red delicious apples from the produce stand. You know, the kind with the dark red peel you’d shine up on your shirt before sinking your teeth in for a juicy bite.
Some of my friends liked the green sour apples, the ones that made you pucker your lips when taking a bite. They were too sour to my liking.
I often think about how luscious the apples growing in the Garden of Eden must have been. They had to be perfect. No wonder the devil was able to tempt Eve to eat one. Even though we don’t know for sure the fruit was an apple, I like to imagine it was.
I think God must enjoy apples too. After all, he refers to us as “the apple of his eye.” This metaphor means he watches over us with deep concern and love. What a wonderful thought to carry with us as we enjoy apple season.
• Annettee Budzban is a Christian author of the book “Letters To A Friend,” speaker, life and writing coach and nurse. She can be contacted at annetteebudzban@aol.com.