Sunday Apples

Sunday is a day of rest from the things of the world for our family. I've been cooking all week, so today I have a quick recipe and ideas for using apples for quick, easy snacks. Cut up apple slices and serve them with peanut butter and chopped nuts and raisins and/or craisins. Let your kids play with their food and see what kind of pictures they can create on a paper plate using those items. Here's a quick fruit dip to add to the messy deliciousness:

1 pint marshmallow creme

1 Tlbs. juice concentrate (orange, lemon, lime, or whatever sounds good) or a little more if you like!

8 oz cream cheese, softened.

Beat the cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Beat in the marshmallow creme. Add the juice concentrate and stir until well blended. Chill and serve with all kinds of fruit...apples, bananas, strawberries, you name it.

I would post a picture, but I am out of marshmallow creme...sigh.

I gave a great deal of thought to what I wanted to blog about today. Sunday has always been a day of great significance to me -- a day of rest from weekly labors, yes, but it's more than that. It is a day to remember my Savior and give thanks to Him for everything He has done and continues to do for me. 

Are you wondering how I could possibly tie this in with apples? While I was cutting an apple up yesterday, I started wondering just how many seeds are in an apple, and how many apples grow on a tree, and how many trees can grow from all those seeds from all those apples on all those other trees...I thought about the parable of the sower in the New Testament and I wondered about the spiritual seeds I may or may not have planted throughout my life. Then I started pondering on the miracle of creation and how everything around me testifies that there is a God in Heaven. I thought about how much Heavenly Father loves us. The apple has a shape similar to a heart...and even the center of the apple has a bit of a heart shape.

I found a talk by Elder M. Russell Ballard, in an address given in conference in April 1988 where he shared the following:

"Astronauts viewing the earth from space have stated how incredibly beautiful it is and how alive it appears. United States Senator Jake Garn wrote of his experience in space: “It is impossible for me to describe the beauty of the earth. It is a breathtaking, awe-inspiring, spiritual experience to view the earth from space while traveling at twenty-five times the speed of sound. I could also look into the blackness of the vacuum of space and see billions of stars and galaxies millions of light-years away. The universe is so vast as to be impossible to comprehend. But I did comprehend the hand of God in all things. I felt his presence throughout my seven days in space. I know that God created this earth and the universe. I know that we are his children wherever we live on the earth, without regard to our nationality or the color of our skin. Most important, I know that God lives and is the Creator of us all” (letter to M. Russell Ballard, 3 March 1988).

"Again, the words of the hymn came to mind:

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds thy hands have made,

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy pow’r thruout the universe displayed;

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee,

How great thou art! How great thou art!"

"The psalmist wrote, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

“For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour" (Ps. 8:3–5).

The Lord gave an answer to the psalmist’s question; it is recorded in the book of Moses: “For mine own purpose have I made these things. …

“And by the word of my power, have I created them. …

“For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:31–32, 39). "   (please forgive my misuse of quotation marks...)

At the dinner table this evening, I asked everyone to share with me something that testifies to them that there is a supreme creator. Levi said that he feels that testimony when he studies about cells and how everything is so complicated and organized. Natasha expressed similar thoughts and shared how the beauty of the world and the grandeur of the universe testifies to her.

I looked again at the apples I was slicing and sliced on apple in a different direction. Instead of a heart shape, there is a 5-pointed star. Reminds me of the star of Bethlehem. I think of the potential of those seeds to grow into an infinite number of apples, and I am reminded of the Savior's infinite sacrifice and His infinite love for us. I am humbled to feel that love and to know that He knows little, insignificant me...and He knows and loves each and every one of you, my brothers and my sisters in the Lord. You are never alone. God bless you my friends.
hugs and blessings~