The apple tree

Right after I got married I took a class on the New Testament at BYU. During one of the classes, my teacher told us a story/metaphor he came up with. It has always stuck with me and I wanted to post it on my blog because I love it and want to remember it.

"There once was an apple tree, with its branches filled with tons and tons of apples. One day, one of the apples turned to another, and said....'dang, you're one gooood lookin' apple!' The admired apple thought, 'yeah, I do look pretty good!' The

surrounding apples then started wishing they also looked that good.

All over the tree apples started working to polish

themselves. It was devastating to an apple when it realized it was a little misshaped or had a blemish, and so the apples put countless time and energy into trying to look perfect.

Well, winter came.... the apples fell to the ground and began to rot. As their outer skins shriveled away, they realized something so key that they had missed. All their life they worked to be the best-looking apple.... BUT, it was the SEED that mattered. They weren't meant to be just apples. They were meant to become trees. Instead of nourishing their outer appearance, they should have been nourishing their seed. They just didn't understand what they were to become."

I will always need to improve on keeping this perspective. I strongly believe this quote:

"Happiness does not depend on what happens on the outside of you, but what happens on the inside." -Harold B. Lee

On a less serious note... Steve and I built a sweet fort in our house yesterday, made some fantastic sugar cookies, and went to the BYU basketball game. I'm so glad we can grow up together :) We still have a lot of growing up to do.... and by "we", I really mean, "I" still have a lot of growing up to do. Steve is perfect.