Walking through her apple orchard Ellice took in the fragrance of the fruit of the trees she had once planted as tiny seeds. As she walked the aisles of trees she came upon one of the apple trees that needed immediate attention. Several of the apples on the tree were beginning to rot. She picked off some of the rotten ones that she could reach and examined them. Each one that she had to discard brought a feeling of sorrow to her. Some of the apples she could tell had once been ripe, but something had gotten a hold of it to make them rot before they had a chance to be picked and used for their purpose. Some of the other apples were smaller, but had already began to rot.
Ellice’s heart was saddened that these apples would not get to mature and be enjoyed. She could imagine and almost taste how good they would have been in one of her homemade apple pies. Walking back to the house Ellice heard someone driving up. As she walked around to the front of the house she saw her seventeen year old granddaughter getting out of her car. Ellice could tell that Acacia was bothered. She hated to see her granddaughter upset, but she was thankful that she had a good relationship with her that when she was upset, Acacia knew she could come to talk with her grandma.
They met in the driveway and after hugging they ended up in the porch swing where Acacia began venting her frustration and anger towards her mom, Ellice’s daughter. Her anger was over her mom’s demand that she stop hanging around this new group of “friends” she had recently made. Acacia’s parents were attempting to raise her in an environment that respected good moral conduct and Christian values. Acacia’s new friends were quite the opposite of what she knew her parents would approve.
Acacia never had any intentions of actually participating in the activities such as drinking, smoking, drugs, and fornication that her new friends did regularly. She just wanted a taste of living rebellious and careless. She had thought that this might break her “goody-toe-shoe” image and become more popular. She tried explaining to her grandma what she thought her mom just could not understand. She believed that just because she hung out with them did not mean she would be like them. At this moment Ellice asked Acacia to walk with her out to the orchard.
As they walked in the shade of the apple trees with the aroma of apples filling the air Ellice began telling Acacia of something she recently read in a book that dealt with friendships. Ellice explained that a person’s friends truly help to shape and influence who we are. She also shared what she had heard A.W. Tozer observed, “There is a law of moral attraction that draws every man to the society most like himself. Where we go when we are free to go wherever we want is a near infallible index of character.”
Acacia’s frustration began to rise again when she believed that her grandmother was taking the side of her mom, and not understanding that she was not like her new friends just because she hung out with them. By this time they had walked up to the tree that was bearing some rotten fruit. Ellice asked Acacia if she wanted to pick an apple to eat. Acacia looked up at the tree they were under and saw some of the rotten apples and then walked over to another tree to pick a ripe, delicious apple.
Ellice explained why Acacia did what she did. She pointed out that even though there were a few good apples on the tree with some rotten apples, because the good ones were close to the bad ones, Acacia perceived the good apples to possibly be “no good” either. That was why she went and picked an apple from a tree that was surrounded by other healthy looking apples. Ellice shared that she would have to prune away the branches causing the rotten fruit, or else the entire tree would have to be cut down. The remaining good apples on the tree will be infected by the others if they remain around them.
Acacia began to understand the analogy her grandmother had shared. She realized that no matter what her beliefs were that if she continued to hang around her new friends she would eventually be drawn into making the same bad choices that they were making. Ellice informed Acacia that one of the meanings of her name means, “a blossoming tree that can symbolize resurrection” and that in time she would blossom if not infected by the bad choices of others. Acacia would have to make the decision of who an what to put into her life. But, as a reminder, Ellice let Acacia know that it is the apples that not only look good on the outside, but are good on the inside that make the best apple pies.
Originally written: August 16, 2000
~TRS
Rays of Hope 