Winter Apples

 As I passed by an upstairs window, movement caught my attention. I turned to look at the old apple tree in our backyard. There amidst the ice and snow on the bare branches was a squirrel. It was trying to pull an apple from the top of the tree. I watched as it gave a few tugs, and didn't get the apple to come loose. It then scampered to another limb and pulled at another apple. This apple came free and the squirrel then went down the tree, and cautiously went across the snow to a pine tree. It went up the pine tree for a bit, then down and out into the brush and trees in the hedgerow behind the house I lost sight of it then. 

The squirrel was gone, but not out of my thoughts.  I had been watching those apples since they were small, red blobs in the green leaves of late summer. When fall came, I considered picking apples from that tree for apple sauce. We never made the time to do it and the only sauce they were turned into was when I passed over them with the lawn mower. I had teased Tom that they smelled good and that he should get a ladder and climb up to get the ones at the very top. I was assured by the grandchildren that this was a good idea. They had not been able to resist the allure of the lovely apples and had tasted some of the drops. Tom, however, just grinned and let the apples reside where they were. 

Now I knew why the apples were there. They were there to feed the squirrels in the snowy days of winter.  It reminded me that the things written in the Bible are not just old, dead words. I recalled the words of Matthew 6:25-26:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

The apples and the verses were also a lesson to me. You see, I knew that my current job through an employment firm would soon come to an end, and I was a bit worried about finding another job.  Would the employment firm have another online job for me? Would I have to start the tedious process of applying for jobs online? Should I see about getting on the substitute list at the local schools and risk COVID exposure? Would I end up stocking shelves? These thoughts and many more had been swirling slowly in my mind for days. Now, I knew that I needn't waste any more time worrying. God already knows where I will work next. Just as he knew the squirrel would find the apples when they were needed. Life IS more than food, the body is more than clothing. Thank you, Lord, for the reminder right outside my window. Thank you for winter apples.