I have two apple trees in my yard. When the time is right, they have beautiful blossoms and get filled with flowers all over them. The flowers are beautiful white with shades of red and pink and the trees are just a beautiful sight to the eyes, needless to say that most of the flowers turn into delicious apples. Well, just a few days ago, I was looking at the flowers and noticed that some of them are drying and look disorientated. As I examined them, I found out that the trees were infested by black aphids. The aphids stop or slow the process of pollination and they also stop the trees from accomplishing their purpose which is to bear fruit. After spraying them with some neem oil, I started wondering about our lives. How often do we try to be good trees and to accomplish our purpose, but then the things of this world come can crush us? How often do we have good intentions, but the matters of life bring us down? Each aphid on the tree represents an element of the worlds destructive desires, sinfulness, and selfishness. The only way to a prosperous spiritual life is by destroying the spiritual aphids. Alone we cannot, but God is a great gardener. As we remain in Him, He does not only get read of the things that are destroying us, but He also prunes us, nourishes us, and helps us to bear good fruit. Let what the Psalmist says in Psalm 51 be your prayer:
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
