I have a mighty apple tree in my backyard; though it is not mighty because of its size. It is mighty because it apparently doesn’t know just how small in stature it is. This tree inspires me each time I sit in my back porch and gaze at it.
This inspirational relationship between me and my apple tree began when, early one evening while playing in the yard with one of my sons, I was standing beside it and noticed the tiny beginnings of apples growing on all of the branches. I was amazed. We just planted this tree last fall and the stake that it is tied to is bigger in diameter than the actual trunk.
The tree itself, in all its splendor, is currently about three inches taller than me; and I am all of five feet, two inches tall. Yet the tree doesn’t seem to realize this and has nearly forty apples dangling from its limbs. It’s simply doing its job, the job that God created it to do from the beginning—produce fruit.
It doesn’t have the capacity to worry, “What if I am too small to handle the job?” or to wonder “Am I ready to take on this monumental task?” to question whether this is actually what it should be doing at this point in time, or to become frustrated when there isn’t enough rain, raise its limbs to the sky and cry out, “Lord, I can’t do this!” It just does it because that’s what God intended.
If only we could be so resolute in our own lives when it comes to carrying out God’s plans for us. Recognizing God’s callings can be confusing, frightening, and intimidating, and answering them even more daunting. But it’s a mission we were born to accomplish—and will when we have faith and trust in the Lord’s plan.
Whatever it is that God has put each of us on this earth to do, we are up to the task. He created us in His own image, which means none of us come up short in His eyes. Not one. We may sometimes—many times—have ourselves convinced that we don’t have it in us. But rest assured, when God calls you—or me—to the plate, He also equips us with the bat to hit a home run. Having enough faith to step up to that plate, however, and giving it our all is up to us.
It’s easy to be inspired by larger-than-life people who are accomplishing great things, but this sometimes leaves me feeling inferior and inconsequential—questioning whether or not I’m really doing anything at all of significance. So I try to find inspiration in seemingly insignificant, everyday things to remind myself that we each have a purpose, great or small, that has an impact on this world during our short time in it.
This is why I love my mighty little apple tree.
