The Father's Heart

Dear COAH,

More than two hundred acres of apple orchards surround Young Nak Retreat Center. Until recently, the Donnet family ran the orchards. But with the change of ownership came a lot of other changes. The ambrosia apples that used to be so delicious are not the same. They've been coming from the same trees yearly, but why aren't they as good this year? This year's apples are also smaller than in previous years. Even more shocking is that it's mid-December, almost the end of the year, and there are still apples hanging on many apple trees. With temperatures dropping below freezing overnight, these apples are frozen and will fall to the ground sooner or later. They will rot and turn into fertilizer. It's a shame. What caused this neglect? 

Could something happen to the seasonal workers who come from Jamaica every year? They weren't denied entry due to coronavirus concerns like in 2020 or 2021. But, for whatever reason, they missed the harvest. Now that these precious apples aren't harvested on time, they're just waiting to give way to gravity. The new owner could have said to the high school students next door (literally speaking), "You guys can come and pick to your heart's content." There would have been no such waste. Too bad. 

What's the spiritual lesson here? Doesn't it show us the tragedy of missing the spiritual harvest? Do these hanging apples represent many souls still lost because we failed to harvest them like we didn't evangelize when we should have and didn't do missions when we should have? Is God making us feel the pain of our Heavenly Father who sees this? I remember these words. "Be prepared to preach the word, in season and out of season" (2 Timothy 4:2). 

Blessings, 

Pastor Minho Song 

(There are so many unharvested apple trees)