An Apple A Day...

An apple a day keeps the doctor away...

My  momma used to repeat this adage to me much when I was a little girl and honestly, I believe there IS some truth to it. May I be truthful, though? (Just go ahead and say yes, darlin', I'm gonna tell you anyway ;)) I do not care much for apples. I have tried every variety man has tried to hybrid together and well, I just don't like 'em. I feel something that takes as much work as an apple does to simply swallow should taste better and it really isn't worth my time and effort. If I want any of my muscles to be sore from something without much return, I'll go to the gym! Sheesh.

However, as I'm getting a little older, I find an apple every morning truly helps me to feel better, um, how shall we say... constitutionally speaking? All of you who are female and over 35 know what I'm talking about, right? Good, cause I don't want to explain further. Now, in all honesty, I do sometimes gag a little on the first bite, sigh. If I've gone through a phase where I've not been eating the healthiest of fare, and I get "back on track", that first morning with that first apple.... oh my goodness, the dread that floods me when I think about it and I usually have an expression on my face that resembles near revulsion.

God's Word is sometimes like those apples for me. I know, I know, that's not a popular statement, but its the truth! Sometimes if I've been acting in ways I know are not His ways, then the first Scripture or two leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. I rebel against hearing His gentle voice trying to get me "back on track". However, as I continue to be faithful in reading His word, I begin to taste the sweetness of it too. Now, there are always going to be some days when my devotional time is kinda like getting a hiny-chewing, those of us with big mouths are just gonna have those days, but the Lord is so faithful! He fills me up with His Spirit and washes me clean with His Words and when I just submit (even though I might gag at first), I am so clean and so free and so refreshed afterward. Ahhhhh... Isn't He good? :0)

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful."

- Hebrews 10:21-23