Apple Thoughts

We have a 50+ year-old apple tree in our backyard that we are pretty excited about. When we got our house 3 years ago, it was HUGE and produced tons and tons of apples without us having to do anything to it. Perfect. 

However, as we've been living here longer and learning about how to take care of our fruit trees, we realized that this apple tree, though it gave tons of apples, needed care. The apples had worms and spots. The lower (reachable) ones were completely shaded by the higher (even with huge ladders, unreachable) ones, making our harvested apples small and kind of gimpy. The tree itself had so many branches that they were chocking each other out and shading each other so there was a ton of moss... 

So last winter we trimmed out tree. And by trimmed, I mean my husband and his chainsaw climbed up a 40-foot tree, and came back down a 25-foot tree. We thinned out branches and rubbed off moss. We changed the entire shape of it, and then stood back and prayed we hadn't killed it. 

Then, this summer brought fruit. Beautiful fruit. The apples have almost no worms and are nearly twice the size they used to be. Even their color is more vibrant. 

The other day I was sitting, nursing my baby and watching my kids play, and looking at my tree. And I realized that I'm a lot like it. Christ says you can judge something by it's fruits - and my life definitely has fruit - I'm doing my normal Catholic thing. Going to Mass on Sundays, and even helping out when I can. I don't rob banks, and haven't pushed over an old person in YEARS. But I don't prune. I don't get to the confessional. And I need to. I was made for it. We all are. 

My fruit can be better. My love can be better if I take the proper care. I'm sure if I started going to confession regularly (once a month) my life wouldn't change drastically. I wouldn't come come home and announce the whole family's moving to a third world country to do mission work; just like my apple tree will never become a pineapple no matter how much it's trimmed. But I'll be a better wife. A better mom and friend. My love will become sweeter and more vibrant. Like my apples.

It's almost Our Lady's birthday...

On September 8 the Church celebrates the feast of the Birth of Mary. We don't actually know her real birthday, but tradition holds that she was the only child of St. Anne and St Joachim. According to my book, Marian Devotions in the Domestic Church, "this feast was celebrated by Christians in Syria and Palestine as early as the sixth century, when on a particular Sept. 8 a church in Jerusalem was consecrated in Mary's honor. Over the next several centuries observance spread to the Western Church; by the Middle Ages it was a public holy day and remained a day of obligation until 1918."

Well, our parish is having our annual picnic that day and I've ordered a birthday cake with blue and white roses (yay Costco!). We've planned on having all the tables covered in tablecloths of varying shades of blue and the picture is of the placemats I'm writing on. Each one says "Happy birthday Mary!" and it has a title of Our Lady. More pictures later with, but what are your favorite titles so I can be sure to include them? I've still got 20 mats to go!

Also, don't forget to celebrate at home! Make or buy a cake or cupcakes and sing to Our Lady. Kids love to sing happy birthday! Got a blue tablecloth? Bust it out for one night. Grab leftover party hats ,banners, blowers, etc and you've got an evening the kids will LOVE and will build a Catholic culture in your home. 😀