An Apple a Day

I have always been fascinated by apples. I remember growing up in my tropical paradise country of birth; apples were more of a Christmas treat. During my elementary-school years, the day of our class Christmas party, the teacher would bring in this mysterious looking boxes with strange writing printed on them, and as soon as she’d open one of them, the fragrance of apples would fill the air, announcing that the Christmas season had finally arrived! I would anxiously wait for the teacher to hand one to me so I could hold it and inspect it. I never ate it, though…many kids didn’t…I never liked the texture of it…it was more like a mythical creature from which I’ve heard in canned TV shows, traveling from a distant land fresh in a box…so the wonder of holding one in my very own hands was plenty satisfaction. 

At any rate…I digress…

Today, I’m reminiscing of a time not too long ago when I was in the middle of a medical diet and I began feeling the cravings for something sweet to eat. Then, I couldn’t just reach for the cookies in the pantry or the donuts on the counter. I couldn’t make a special trip to the bakery either. If I wanted desert, I had to make it myself…from scratch to make sure I have complete control over the ingredients that went in it. So I flipped through the electronic pages of my magical cook-book to see what treasures I could discover in this department. As soon as I saw “apple cake” on the title I knew I have found my next experiment. After all, “an apple a day, keeps the doctor away…especially if it is baked into a cake!”

I looked through the ingredients and I smiled with delight when I realized I had them all except one…the apples. I only had Dylan’s “spicy” apples at home (please, don’t ask). I didn’t think those would be good in this recipe, so I ventured out into the unsurmountable task of selecting the right apples to put in an apple cake. The recipe didn’t tell me what kind of apple to use…but in my vast knowledge of pop culture, I remembered a movie I’ve seen where the protagonist is stealing some apples from her neighbor to bake a pie…they were of a greenish/golden color, so as I stood, scratching my confused head in front of the fifteen different varieties of apples at the grocery store, I grabbed a bag containing one of the many Grandmother variety which were colored similarly to the ones in the movie.

At any rate, I went home, closely followed the recipe and in about 1 hour I had a small gem in front of me. Needless to say, the wonderful smell from the oven was enough to signal my success. So when I finally contemplated the golden treasure I knew it was good.

It was good, indeed! The treat was so yummy I can still taste it today, over a month later. God showed me His love in the goodness of His creation and through the imagination of those who know how to compose delicious treats out of the fruits of His hands. Little did I know when I was a little girl in Panama that the mysterious red marvel that came to us in a box from a land far, far away, would, one day, so deliciously relieve my cravings and ease my anxiety in my hour of distress. He takes care of our every need, no matter how minute, insignificant or irrelevant it may seem in the great scheme of things…if it is important to one of His children, He will take care of it in the most loving way.

Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 17: 8

Linking with:  Mondays Musings