As I wash the copper-bottomed saucepan in the warm, soapy water in the kitchen sink, I gaze out the window  at the apple trees in the back yard.  The branches are bent low, nine-months-pregnant heavy, full of crimson fruit.  I sigh, thinking of all the work I’m facing with those bushels of apples, the need to find ways to use or preserve them.

As the dishes are drying, I search cookbooks, with worn spines and splattered pages;

     Apple pie, baked apples, apple juice, apple dumplings,

faded, dog-eared, recipes on 3″ x 5″ index cards;

  apple cake, apple roll, apple bread,  dried apples, apple bars, pickled apples,

canning and freezing instruction booklets, bookmarked to favorites;

     apple sauce, apple jam, apple jelly, apple butter

and recipes, only a click away on the internet.

     apple cider, caramel apples, apple fritters

I sigh again, wondering if I should freeze or can or dry or bake . . . There are so many apples.

What I should do is be content and thankful for the bounty God has provided.  Usually I am discontented when I lack something, but today I am complaining about abundance.  Paul had experienced these extremes, too.

 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Philippians 4:12 NIV

photo by Barb Briggs

I sigh again, this time with a whisper of “Thank you.”

I know what it is to have plenty.

I’ll have my apple pie with a scoop of contentment, please.