"APPLE OF HIS EYE"
Paxton Clark was a name synonymous with apple farming, hard work and living the simple life for the past three generations. Paxton Clark, Sr., Paxton Clark, Jr. and Paxton Clark, III were all hard working country boys who subscribed to the adage of “God, baseball, hot dogs and apple pie go together in the good ‘ol USA.”
Paxton, Sr. founded and began the family apple orchard business in Cairo, Oklahoma. He had been forced to leave his Philadelphia roots during the Great Depression. Paxton, Sr. hopped on a coal train and rode it to the end of its line in nearby Coalgate, Oklahoma. Odd jobs kept food in his belly and his hard work ethic made him well known among the cattle ranchers who had managed to survive the first year of the Great Depression. However, their survival would be short lived as doom was lurking with the eventual “black blizzard” called the Dust Bowl.
Paxton, Sr. had wandered the six miles between Coalgate and Cairo getting a ranch hand job working and living on a five hundred acre ranch when the Dust Bowl hit. The rancher and his family vanished in the middle of the night while gifting the property to the eldest Paxton.
Funded by FDR’s new Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Paxton, Sr. began the Honey Pot Apple Orchards on his five hundred acres. Cairo, Oklahoma was a stone’s throw west of Limestone Gap and the area had rich soil with numerous creeks perfect for apple farming or any kind of farming for that matter.
Paxton Clark, III who was nicknamed “Pepper” was proud of the fact he was a “good ‘ol country boy” who worked hard all day then sat down to his favorite supper of beans, cornbread and ham hocks. Not only had “Pepper” been taught a simple life with a strong work ethic but faith in God and farming went hand in hand. “Pepper” now a third generation owner of the family business was the epitome of another adage; “the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.”
“Pepper” had never traveled farther than Oklahoma City and only then was to buy some hard to find parts for his fleet of old but true Allis-Chalmers “B” tractors his grandfather bought when they were first sold. “Pepper” graduated high school, married his childhood sweetheart and continued in the family apple farming business.
“Pepper” loved to tell people his wife was the best cook around and she could do anything because she had “snap in her garters.” The missus would fire back; “he lies like a tombstone.” They enjoyed each other, their farm, their business, their children, their grandchildren, their country church and their simple way of life.
However, the simple way of life on the farm was disrupted when “Pepper” was forced to enter a specialty hospital in Dallas, Texas. He was grumpy from being on medication and the nurses thought him to be insane, as he yelled for his wife to get the apple basket. By the time they had checked him into his room the nurses were exhausted from the fight he was putting up.
"Sir you have to calm down we are doing everything we can for you" they would try to explain but “Pepper” being in a strange big city surrounded by people who didn’t understand “good ‘ol country boys” shot back; "I don't need your help" the grumpy man would yell "I want my apple basket.”
When the sedatives finally kicked in, “Pepper” drifted off to sleep. The nurses sighed with relief and talked among themselves whether they should call the hospital psychologist about the old man and his obsession with the apple basket.
As they talked and laughed about the situation his wife came in carrying the basket of apples. The doctors and nurses looked kind of stunned as she asked if she could see her husband and deliver his basket. Sure, they agreed as they watched her tiptoe into his room.
Curiosity consumed them over the next few weeks as they tended to the elderly man. He was eaten up with cancer and the doctors had given him no hope of survival. He turned out to be a very calm, happy man once he had his apple basket. His wife, they noticed, would come in with apples and go out with apples and the curiosity grew even more so until one nurse couldn't stand the suspense.
One night as “Pepper” was nearing the end, the nurse sat down in a chair by his wife and asked him; “May I ask why do you have that apple basket? I just don't understand the significance."
"I am an apple farmer by trade,” he sighed. “From the time I was 18 till the day I do die I will forever have my apples." The nurse nodded thinking she understood. He just likes his work, she thought, assured now he was a little bit daft or senile or both.
As she started to leave, the old man asked her not to leave just yet. "At age 20 I was saved, I accepted the Lord as my Savior." Oh no, the nurse thought. Here comes the lecture on religion. The old man continued; "The day I accepted the Lord as my Savior I got this basket, and each time I had a problem or concern that I could not handle, I put an apple in the basket.”
"Why?" the nurse asked shaking her head.
"Because it reminded me to give those problems to the Lord for Him to handle. Look at my basket now," he stated while straining to breathe. "As my problems disappear so do the apples. As I get new problems, the ones I cannot handle alone, I put an apple in."
The humble nurse looked into the basket...only one apple was there........
With that, “Pepper” took a big breath and grabbed his wife by the hand and faded into eternal sleep.
The wife paused for a moment and got up from her place to take from the basket the last remaining apple. She whispered in his ear that his reward awaits him in heaven.
The nurse stayed still and asked with tears in her eyes, "what do you think his riches will be?"
The wife knew what they were, eternal life with Jesus Christ. But she could see the concern and sadness upon the young nurse’s face and handed her the lone remaining apple and said "one of his rewards will be the biggest apple pie you can imagine!"
That was the day the young nurse was saved, and from that day on she always had a apple basket by her bed.
The phrase “apple of His eye” originated from the Holy Bible. The Anglo-Saxon word "arppel" means both apple and pupil when translating the Hebrew text. The first use of the phrase appears in Deuteronomy 32:10, which reads: “…. he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye." A more literal translation of the Hebrew text is actually "little man of his eye," which refers to the reflection of oneself that one sees when looking into the pupil of another person. Hebrew scholars suggest the same phrase used in Zechariah 2:8 denotes our eyes being precious and fragile, they need protecting, and that’s how the Lord wants to love and protect His people by holding them close to Him. God uses “apple of His eye” in more than a dozen Bible verses to drive home the fact each of us are very, very important to Him. (Deuteronomy 32:10, Proverbs 7:2, Psalms 17:8, etc.)
Obviously, we know we can always take God’s word to the bank. We are also assured we are on God’s “A-list” because we are the “apple of His eye.” If those assurances do not give you the warm and fuzzies or make you want to dance a jig, add another fact God considers us precious and wants to protect us because we are “the apple of His eye.” Think about it; God, who created the universe and everything in it tells you that little ‘ol you in this vast world is the “apple of His eye” and He wants to love, cherish and protect you! Oh man and Amen!
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your love, Your forgiveness, Your mercy and Your grace. Thank You for making each of us the “apple of Your eye.” Lord, let us sing and shout the lyrics from an old Grateful Dead gospel song “Ill Be With Thee” which promises: “I am the Lord, thy God and I will go with thee, you don’t have to worry, I will be with thee.” Lord, remind often us Your word and Your promises are a flashlight for the dark paths we travel and a safe haven for life’s storms we have in our own apple basket!
City Manager (retired) and Executive Consultant
4 年https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc1UhRUTKsU