Today as I was going to grab an apple to eat; it’s autumn in Minnesota so that means FABULOUS orchard apples are in abundance! As I grabbed the apple, I noticed it was softer than it should be…sure enough some of the apples I had on the counter had gone bad. I then decided to peel and dice them to make some apple crisp. I’m not one for recipes…I like just ‘winging’ it when it comes to baking (if you have ever enjoyed something I have baked, know you are fortunate…because rarely do I repeat the exact same recipe). So, I grabbed some cinnamon, sugar, lime yogurt (gasp), oatmeal, brown sugar, butter and some caramel.
After I was done mixing and putting it in the pan to bake, it didn’t take long for the house to smell SO gooooooood!! Once the apple crisp came out of the oven I couldn’t wait…I immediately took some of the steaming apple crisp, put it in a small bowl, added some whipped cream and caramel drizzle…and voila...HEAVEN in a bowl!
As I was sitting eating my little scoop of heaven I had an epiphany…What is now tasting Oh SO Good…was once some bad apples. Wow!! That really caught my attention. Sometimes people will just throw out bad apples and not utilize them for another purpose…a yummy other purpose at that:)
That got me thinking about people and how sometimes we will say someone is a ‘bad apple’ because they don’t fit where they are at. They may be making poor decisions or being difficult to deal with. They may not be contributing to the efforts well where they are. Sometimes ‘bad apples’ get fired, sometimes ‘bad apples’ get thrown out of clubs, churches, relationships, schools, etc…
The revelation I had today was that a ‘bad apple’ makes a phenomenal dessert! I think we need to start looking at people differently…don’t toss out the ‘bad apples’ so quickly in our lives. We should look to where that apple would fit better. That ‘bad apple’ may have never meant to be just an ordinary apple…perhaps its destiny was to be a divine dessert and it just needs you to add a few more ingredients to its existence!
A little food for thought today…literally!
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28
Notice how it says God causes ALL things to work together for good. He did not say…God causes ONLY GOOD things to work together for good.
So…go make something GOOD out of those BAD Apples!!!
I suppose wherever your eyes focus that’s what you will see. I see the dessert:)