In our yard, a few feet from the door, stands an apple-tree. In the early
spring I watched its swelling buds from day to day. Soon they burst forth
into snowy blossoms, beautifying the tree, and filling the air with their
fragrance. There was the promise of a bountiful crop of fruit. In a few
days the petals had fallen like a belated snow. As the leaves unfolded and
grew larger, there appeared here and there a little apple that gave
promise of maturing into full-ripened fruit. But, alas! how few apples
there were compared with the number of blossoms with which the boughs had
been laden! Most of the blossoms had been blighted, and had fallen to the
ground leaving nothing behind.
“Ah,” thought I, “how like these blighted blossoms are so many of the
desires and hopes and plans of our lives! How many of our aspirations are
never realized! How many of our plans fail! How scanty the perfectly
matured fruit in our lives, when compared with the blossoms!” When we
consider this, how barren our lives often seem! How little we seem to
accomplish! How little our lives seem to amount to!
Every truly saved heart longs to serve. The redeemed heart loves, and love
finds its joy in service. How much there is to be done all around us! and
how eagerly we would take up the task of doing it! How much we want to
accomplish for the Lord! but ah, how little we do really accomplish! How
many blossoms of desire we possess! but how little fruit of real
accomplishment! Seeing this, we sometimes become discouraged. It does not
seem worth while to try to do the few little things that we actually can
do. Do the best we can, so many of our blossoms will be blighted—so many
of our plans will fail; so many of our hopes will not be realized; so many
of our desires will not be fulfilled. We can rejoice in those that are
brought to fruitage; we can rejoice in those that do mature; but how about
the blossoms that fall and seem to leave nothing behind them? Do they bud
in vain? Do they serve no good purpose in our lives? They are not in vain.
The blossoms on that apple-tree which were blighted, and died, were just
as beautiful and just as fragrant as those which bore fruit. They served a
very real purpose, and so do the hopes and purposes that we cherish in our
hearts, even though we never see their fruitage.
David was a man who loved the Lord, and out of that love came a desire to
build the Lord a house. That desire was never realized by David. Making it
a reality was left to others. Nevertheless, David’s purpose was pleasing
to the Lord. In his prayer at the dedication of the temple, Solomon said:
“And it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for the name
of the Lord God of Israel. And the Lord said unto David my father, Whereas
it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name, thou didst well that
it was in thine heart” (1 Kings 8: 17, 18). God did not despise the
desire, even though he did not permit David to carry it out. As God was
well-pleased with the desire of David to build him a house, so he is
well-pleased with those worthy desires and purposes of our hearts that are
never carried out. Whether it be circumstances or surroundings that hinder
us, whether it be a lack of wisdom or of ability, whether it be the
pressure of other duties, or even if God gives the task to some one else,
there is, nevertheless, beauty and fragrance in the desire that is in our
heart to do him service.
We must not become discouraged and give up hoping and desiring and
planning to do something for the Lord, even though so many of our plans
fail and our hopes become blighted. We know that it is the sap flowing
upward through the tree that produces the beautiful fragrant blossoms.
Likewise God knows that it is the love in our hearts that produces the
desire for service; and that love is precious in his sight. Do you
sometimes feel that there is so little, oh, so little! that you can do for
the Lord? Does your life seem to count so little for his kingdom? and do
you long to be more useful? That very longing is as the odor of sweet
incense before the Lord. If you are prevented from doing the things that
you would gladly do, if circumstances shut you in like a hedge, if you
seem weak when you would be strong, you can still do something. The more
of those blossoms of desire you have, even if they never reach fruition,
the more your life is beautified, and the more the Lord is pleased. These
unfulfilled desires work to ennoble our character and to enrich us,
provided we do not spend our time mourning and lamenting because we can
not put them into action.
There is, however, one danger which we must be careful to shun. Sometimes
people have their hearts so set on doing some great thing that they miss
the little things, the little opportunities that lie close to their hands.
Life is made up of a round of little things. The great things only happen
at rare intervals. But it is being faithful in the little things that
makes us ready for our opportunities for the great things when they come.
Christ said “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also
in much.” The little things are not spectacular, they do not attract much
attention, but they are the things that make up life; and if we are true
in these little things, God will trust us with some greater things by and
by. It is not wrong to yearn to do more; but that longing works evil if,
in our reaching forward to greater opportunities, we neglect what
opportunities we have. It is the fruits we are able to produce, not their
blossoms, that count at the harvest.
Let us, therefore, strive to do all that we can; and if we can not do all
that we would, let us remember that the blossoms that are blasted are not
in vain. They serve their purpose. They are well worth while; and if we go
resolutely and stedfastly on, we shall at last hear the Master’s voice say
to us, “It is good that it was in thine heart.” How sweet these words will
sound in our ears! How they will soothe our feelings of disappointment at
not having done more! Let us press on, therefore, and not be discouraged
because we do not see our hopes and plans realized in this world. Let us
be strong and of good courage, knowing that God knows all about it. Let us
thank him for such privileges as we have, and make the best of our
opportunities.