A little girl was born, and an apple tree was planted around the same time. They grew up side by side, but the girl never really paid attention to the tree. Several years later, when both had matured, the tree began to sway back and forth in the sunlight, trying to get her attention.
One day, she noticed it, and although some of it leaves were brown and decaying, the little girl overlooked it. All she could focus on were the big, bright, shiny, red apples the tree produced. She had not tasted an apple in so long, and she asked herself, “What harm could there be in just taking one bite?”
She pulled one off of the tree, and she cautiously took a bite. Her senses came completely alive! She had forgotten how delicious this fruit was and how nourishing it was to her soul. She found comfort in the shade of the tree. (Song of Solomon 2:3– As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, So is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, And his fruit was sweet to my taste.)
The day after biting into the apple, she felt a little scared. “What if this tree was not meant to be hers?”, she thought. So she prayed to God…“Father, if this tree is not meant to be mine, block the path to it.” The next day, she walked along the path to the tree, and she still had full access to it. The day after, and the day after that, the path was still clear. Then unexpectedly, on the 4th day, a major rainstorm had hit and the path was flooded. She could not get to her beloved tree, and she realized God had answered her prayer.
To her surprise, as the days passed, she began to long for the tree. She thought all day of the taste of its crispy, ripe fruit and she would give anything to have one more taste. She crossed the path to the tree again, and the flood had subsided. She knew she wasn’t supposed to walk down that path, but once again the tree began to sway enticingly and she could not resist. She walked around the tree several times, trying to talk herself out of having one more taste. But she had already seen and touched. (Colossians 2:21-“Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”?) She gripped the closest apple she had seen, and sunk her teeth into it.
She was expecting pure delight, but this apple had not tasted as good as the first one. She let the thought slide, and continued eating until the whole apple was devoured. This time when she tried to rest under its shade, the decayed leaves had not been able to block out the light and heat from the sun. A few hours later, she didn’t feel so well. Her stomach began to turn and become sour. She realized that the reason God had closed the path the first time, was because the fruit the tree was producing was toxic. The desire was so strong for this fruit, that even though she knew it would slowly poison her, she wanted more. The only way for her to never be tempted by the fruit again was to uproot the entire tree. And so she did, but it could not erase the memory and the yearning for those apples. All she could do was yield to the Lord and ask Him to replace the longing of the apple tree for the Tree of Life. (Matthew 11:15–He who has ears, let him hear.)
