Golden apples

I was checking this year’s sparse apple crop on the trees in the backyard the other day. It’s disappointing to see how few we have in comparison to last year’s crop. I’m guessing I won’t get more than two or three pies out of those apples, and that’s a shame, because we love apple pie!

Proverbs 25:11 tells us, “A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” I might have a disappointing apple crop, but what I do have is worth gold to me, and that’s you, my readers who encourage me. I want to use this week’s column to thank those of you who thoughtfully make the effort to tell me you appreciate this column. Whether you’ve emailed me, sent letters, or stopped me on the street, your exhortations mean so much to me.

Without your remarks, I don’t know if anyone is following the column, and I get discouraged. I feel silly admitting that because, as I tell myself, I’m writing for the Lord, not seeking man’s approval.

But the truth is, if you’re a writer, you need an audience. And if your audience never responds, you feel your efforts are fruitless. Aha! You see how this is tying in with the apple trees and “words aptly spoken”?

All kidding aside, everyone needs encouragement, and our Heavenly Father knows that. Verses like Ephesians 4:29b tell us, “Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” And 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up.”

Encouragement. It’s a gift that costs nothing but has great value.

I hope you have people in your life who build you up along life’s journey. If not, let God Himself encourage you with His Words of life: 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17; “May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.”