Little Green Apple

Progressive, permanent progress

It was Labor Day weekend many years ago. We lived on 5 acres near the corner of 12 Mile and Lahser, across from the Country Day School, in The Village of Beverly Hills, MI. Our house was about 300 feet above the Rouge River headwaters. This wonderful little creek cut through the back part of our property. I got up before anyone else in the house was awake, and quietly went downstairs. I grabbed a folding chair, and the little book, All Men Seek God, that I'd bought at a Hallmark Store a few days earlier.

I walked down to our 8' wide, 3' drop waterfall, sat down, and began to read. My goal wasn't to see how many pages I could get through, instead, see how much I could stir up inside. After reading just a short time, I looked up just in time to see a little green apple splashing down over the waterfall. The apple jetted out a couple of yards, then worked its way over to the bank, got caught in an eddy, and slowly worked its way back to the base of the waterfall. When it got back to the base of the waterfall, the little green apple jetted out again.

I returned to my reading and after a few minutes looked up again and there it was, jetting out from the bottom of the waterfall, then slowly returning to the base once again. My wife, Donna Lee, rang the dinner bell to call me up for breakfast.

As I thought about the little green apple, I can clearly see how easy it is for you and me to get caught up, busily working without making permanent progress. This can happen in many important areas of our lives. We make a resolution, (about exercise, taking a course, losing weight, attending church, paying off credit cards) move out briskly, only to be pulled over to the bank by an eddy of the hypnotic rhythms of old patterns, old habits, old friends and returning to where we started. How easy, this two-step dance of back and forth can become the norm.

To make "2021 more fun" it's important to become aware of how easy it is to emulate the little green apple. Let's agree, you and me, that this year all our efforts forward, all our advances are anchored. As we make progress, we will give ourselves credit, celebrate, catch our breath, and from there continue to move forward, growing, progressing, and advancing.