Aug. 25, 2008 - ~Lessons From My Apple Tree~
First some background information...... A few/several months ago we purchased two apple trees. One of the trees already had 4 apples growing, which I was sure would be lost during the transplant. Long story short - Only one was lost during transplant. Weeks went by and hubby and I thought it best to pluck two more apples off the tree. Our thinking was that we wanted the tree to be able to focus on getting rooted and grounded (I know, there's another lesson here as well>grin). So off came two more apples from the apple tree. Last minute though, we decided to leave one lonely apple on the tree. Many weeks went by and the small apple grew and ripened and the eight of us shared in the eating of that one piece of fruit. It was absolutely delicious! Yes - you can grow apples in Florida!
That particular apple tree is a dorsett apple tree. Much different than our other tree, the Ana, which has lots and lots of leaves - the dorsett does not. They look so very different! So we have these two trees about 25 feet apart from each other, one has barely any leaves and has already produced fruit, and the other is very bushy and hasn't hinted at production yet. It's the bushy tree, the Ana, I'm going to write about today....
The tree is gorgeous! It has a beautiful shape, and like I said, is full of leaves. And for almost as long as we've had this tree I have been fighting for it! For a time I was having to go out every single day rubbing each and every young leaf to rid the tree of aphids. The ants were being so very diligent in carrying these yummy pests to the tender new leaves, and I was being so very diligent to kill them.
It was an ongoing battle that went on and on and on....... As long as I visited the tree every day I was winning the battle. There were times when I couldn't make it out there and a day would be skipped. I was able to keep up even then, although it took a little more work.
One day it had been 3 or so days when I visited my apple tree and I immediately realized I needed a higher power to help in my fight against these life sucking aphids and their limo driving ants!
I had tried to find some organic fighting material that I had read about, but it's only sold during a few months here in Florida, and so I was totally out of luck. Then one day my husband visited the hardware store and found an 8.00 bottle of various herbs that would help us in this ongoing battle with the ants and aphids. We tried it and it worked! It held the ants and aphids at bay for 2-3 days at a time. After many weeks it gave me the breathing room I needed to fight the fight, but live my regular life as well, lol. That is, until...... the bottle ran out. The 8.00 bottle of herbs was only a temporary fix. The bottle was not endless and so my fight began once again :O(
Then we used the old soap and water trick, which honestly worked even better than the herbs! That gave me breathing room and I was finally not only able to keep up, but I was winning the battle! I would visit the apple tree every couple-three days and rub a few aphids and ants to death without much effort. So lovely......
Somewhere along the way, the aphids disappeared, praise the Lord! I've got several ideas about all of this, but the bare bones of it all was that I was persistent and used something beyond my physical power and it finally paid off! That is, until....... yesterday! Here we go again.........
The moral of the story from my apple tree is this:
We need Jesus! We can fight this battle to the best of our ability, visiting the enemy with our best, and being as consistent as humanly possible, but it's never enough! We need the word of God daily and we need His higher power daily! And if we do the work to store His word in our heart, it's like a spray on my apple tree, leaving a residue that protects in the battle even though it looks like I'm not fully engaged!
Hebrews: For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword,
And to tie this post with the one from yesterday....... Psalm 149:6 says- Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand;
The Bible makes it clear what that two-edged sword exactly is. It is the word of God. When we store up (memorize) those truths/scriptures, our sword is already drawn and ready for battle. And to bring this back to lessons from my apple tree..... My spray bottle is in hand ready for any rapscallion ants and aphids.
Just like the enemy of our soul he is engaged in sucking the life from us. He uses circumstances and discouragement. He is diligent with his devises. But he can be defeated, and is defeated, through Christ and the power of the spoken word. The enemy comes at us for a time (I've heard it said). He's consistent and persistent. If we stand strong in the word, praising God, and speaking truth....the enemy retreats. But don't fret or be fooled.... he'll be back. He always seeks whom he may devour, doesn't he? Sometimes I think we forget that. Much like I forgot about the battle over the apple tree. I thought the battle was over. Yesterday I was reminded that it is not.
