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AN APPLE A DAY
An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Whatever may be the story behind this saying it goes to mean that if you take a steady doze of suggested food it keeps you fit and fine.
An apple a day –
Your apple can be just anything and not only at the sphere of physical well being but other aspects too. An inspiring song in the morning can give a person positive energy throughout the day.
It can be an inspirational quote
Or an SMS from a friend
Just anything can boost your energy and give you a steady doze of power throughout the day.
The apple that came on my way that I take on passionately on a daily basis is the word of God.
I don’t mean the daily reading of the Bible but a choice word, phrase or a sentence that touches you with a particular meaning and sense of direction.
Now, to get the full enjoyment of eating a fruit or a chocolate is that it has to be taken in small bites little by little and taking time in order to get the taste rather than gulping it all at once.
One need to relish it in the mouth to give the taste buds its share of pleasure.
The word of God as word of life or word of the day also has to be taken in the same way. It has to be read, reread repeated orally or mentally, relished ruminated and slowly allowed to permeate the whole system.
The apple of the day can be of any size. Sometimes the same word goes on in you for weeks together.
The Bible verse can be a phrase, a word or a sentence.
For me a long cherished word of life was just a phrase: COME TO ME which I shortened to just a word ‘come’ as the days went by.
I was given this word at a retreat
Some time it turned out to be a delightful game
I felt the Lord calling me
‘Come’
I retorted saying
‘You come’
It became an enjoyable life experience of calling, inviting, complaining and finally staying in our coming to each other.
I realized no matter how many steps I have taken away from him, a single step and a single word sorry is enough to be near him who says
You come … I am waiting
Bible is a delicious banquet by an extravagant Father who is continually calling his children.
Come.
He will take you to the most suitable item for you.
It may be an assurance and will own you up saying,
‘Fear not… I have called you by name, you are mine’.
You may proceed little further on the same passage and taken the fullness of that assurance
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burnt, the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God… (Isaiah 43: 1, 2)
But hold on to that most consoling words – ‘You are mine.’
Sometimes one verse comes to you and lingers for a long time.
I share with you one such verse that had a tremendous impact on my life.
It is this: It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:31)
Initially what caught me with delight was the phrase – fallen in
It was a deep realization that I have fallen in love with God
Or rather God has taken my desires seriously. For God our desires are our actions.
The next epithets that lingered were ‘into the hands’ which I reworded as ‘in His hands’.
To be in the hands of someone is to experience protection, warmth and care. It is a wonderful feeling of being loved protected held close and guided.
My life is in God’s powerful hands.
Next came the words ‘living God’.
The word living became a life giving factor. I felt the word living has a very special meaning in this passage for me.
My God is a living God. God is not an idea but a living being. It’s a life- giving life sustaining and life transforming relationship.
Life is a very passionate word for me and in the quest for life. God becoming the Master of your life is the most wonderful thing that can happen in your life.
There was a time when the “I am’ statements of Jesus from the Gospel of John gave me life.
I am the way the Truth and the Life (Jn. 14: 6)
How true is the saying ‘Human being fully alive is the glory of God’
I came that you may have life and life in abundance. (Jn.10:10)
Coming back to the verse from the letter to the Hebrews -
Then my attention moved on to the word ‘terrible’ which made me aware of the challenges of falling into the hands of the living God.
It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God
Walking the life with God is not easy. It’s a journey in faith.
Like unfolding story with story within the many other scripture passage came.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things endures all things. ( 1 Cor. 7)
Coming back to the verse-
It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God – I coined the first and the last.
‘It is …God’
It’s God that matters in the final analysis.
All that concerns me has to disappear.
He must increase and I must decrease. (Jn.3:30)
It’s only when my ego melt and disappears that God will take over.
I must allow him to take over my life little by little. I have to stand before the living God with empty hands with nothing to offer except my poverty.
It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
At the same time it’s the most thrilling and exciting experience.
The word of God is a safe guide.
For a Christian soul the diet should include a daily share of word of God.
Taken in, pondered over and cherished.
Only the word of God will keep the ‘doctor’ away.
When the word of God abounds on our lips and lingers in our thoughts we will have little time for gossip and other pass times that does not help living life to the full.
Slowly and steadily the word of God will grow in you from something you take in to something you find within.
Happy are they whose delight is the law (word) of the Lord
And meditate on it day and night.
They are like trees planted by the stream of water
Which yield its fruit in due season,
And their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do they prosper. (Psalm 1: 1- 3)
Remember to take an apple a day … and you will see the Divine Physician keeping you as the apple of his eye.( Psalm. 17:8)