Apple Cider Donuts and the Kingdom of God

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?....³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:25-34

With the world seeming to spin out of control – refugees flooding out of war torn countries; aid convoys delayed or bombs; black people shot for reading a book, having car trouble, holding a bb gun, being in a car accident; bomb plots from white supremacists and Muslim extremists; and then to top it off we are in the midst of a presidential election that truly has to be a joke. Every time you open Facebook, watch the news, listen to the radio or read the paper, you can’t help but wonder when will this end.  Where do we go when the world seems to have taken a turn that is in completely the wrong direction, in Matthew 6 Jesus speaks to us about worries. He tells us to look around at the beauty of the world around us and the care God has taken off those simple beauties of birds and flowers. Jesus knows that sometimes there is trouble enough today and tomorrow, but the worry about the trouble doesn’t change it.

Sandra Foyt

So I am going to suggest that during this time, where we could let the news weigh us down, to take some time to not worry. During the fall one of my favorite ways to enjoy life is to visit an apple orchard. There is nothing like wandering through the trees to find your favorite apple whether it is tart or sweet, crunchy or soft. To walk among the trees finding the apple you can’t wait to eat or to make into the perfect pie. And then when you go in to pay for those apples you have picked there is that smell. The apple cider that is warm and soothing and the donuts. There is nothing like biting into the sugar covered sweet apple goodness. Eating apple cider donuts and walking through an orchard always remind me to stop and just let my senses explore and taste the wonders of this world. Those moments of pure simple pleasure allow my worries to fade away. The sweetness of that joy allows me to refuel and refresh myself.

We need to stop and get off the bad news cycle not to forget or ignore what is going on but to enjoy the beauty of a fall day and hot apple cider donuts in order to replenish our souls for what is a troubling time. For we need those moments of joy to sustain us so we can continue the struggle Jesus laid before us of seeking God’s kingdom and righteousness.

 The simplest pleasures are the sweetest— Farquahr

 “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”—Psalm 16:11

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