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How did listening to this book cause me to see this tree in a whole new light? I am still processing the views and truths I have received from the book. I highly recommend it, even though I am not sure if I totally embrace everything taught in it. I can say that everything taught in it is worth considering and praying over to see where we can understand Gods Ways and Word better by laying aside our own bias and Western thinking minds.
I have been admiring this tree in my front yard for over a week now. Each day it seem to bloom brighter and grow more beautiful. The picture really doesn't do it justice . It has opened up in a spectacular way this year. My wife and I both commented to each other how we cant believe how full and dense the blooms are, especially since last year there were hardly any blooms and what did bloom was short lasting and unimpressive.
One day , shortly after reading the above book, my attention was drawn to this flowering crabapple tree blooming brightly outside my window. I stirred up my spirit and and began to consider how this could be made into a parable about God's Plans. I was going to cut this tree down a few times over the past few years because it wasn't much of a tree most of the time.
I believe prayer sometimes is in our seeking. God answers us and communes with us in our own internal conversations and we seek wisdom from the world around us. (I believe this is one way God gave Solomon such wisdom) This is how my internal conversation went and the outcome of it.
Wow that tree is amazing this year. I am so glad I didn't cut it down. Could it be a prophetic example of God's faithfulness to bring harvest into our lives? To renew what was thought dying or lost? Could it be that the blooms of this year, and what is sure to be an abundance of apples in the fall, is a sign of a coming rich harvest in our lives?
Hmmm, I wonder. But, this is, although beautiful, just a crab apple tree. There may be an abundant harvest of apples, but they are tiny inedible apples, that really just hang on the branches until they finally rot off in the mid winter. Well, that doesn't sound much like an exciting parable. Yeah, it is pretty now, but soon will be just a crab apple tree with a lot of useless fruit on it.
Then some of the truths of the book above came up in my heart. Am I thinking about this entirely the wrong way? Am I discounting something God is trying to show me, just because I will not personally eat the fruit of this tree? Am I just thinking about me, my needs and what this tree provides for me?
Look at all the bumble bees in this tree. I have never seen so many bumble bees around here. They are acting like they found a treasure chest. It is almost like they have sent out the call that a major reserve of their precious pollen has been found. What impact on the ecosystem will this treasure trove of bumble bee gold be? Our little tree here is a precious recourse to not only these bees but every part of the area eco-system will benefit from these amazing blooms.
When the blooms turn to tiny apples, the neighborhood deer come along and eat the ones they can reach, and the bunnies, squirrels and other critters, snag the ones that fall.
This years spectacular blooms are not just so I can enjoy its beauty for a short period of time , but they will bless so many things, for an unknown amount of time, that go far beyond this time of spring renewal. Those bumble bees seem to know that. They are hard at work, in a harvest field that is greater than they can possibly deplete. They seem to know this is a special harvest season. Could they know?? Those bees, those amazing bees.
