B is for BLOSSOM

It's usually a pinky-white flower and begins to appear in early May. Before long, however, every apple tree is completely covered in it, like an adorning crown or an expensive coat. Orchards become a mass of white colour with just the slightest hint of pink and it's a truly beautiful sight. So wonderful in fact that tours are organised to view the spectacle, a week is devoted to an Apple Blossom Festival that includes church flower festivals, special apple-based menus in local restaurants, garden fetes and fairs, apple blossom queens, dances, vintage tractor and car rallies, town markets with an apple flavour, apple tarts with ice cream and cider sampling sessions. Why there's even an apple blossom Sunday when everyone is supposed to get out their vehicles and have a tour around the local roads and view the flowers on the trees. But we are not alone.

By the wonders of the web I have discovered that our friends across the big pond are equally into their apple blossom festivals with probably a slightly more razzmatazz feel to the American celebrations that us County Armagh folk are likely to express. Still we must be thankful that our creator bestowed such the apples on our beautiful county when he had so many others to choose from. Yes it really is the garden of Ireland. The funny thing is though that amidst all our celebrations of the great Bramley, there's not a single fruit on the tree in May!

This past year was a bit strange, because for some reason, call it global warming if you wish, the blossom came earlier and the all the orchards were in full bloom before the festival got under way. By the time the bus tours were winding through the country roads much many of the little white flowers had already nestled in the grass underneath the trees and a couple of days of strong breezes brought them plenty of company. How's that for timing?

We have one tree left in our garden, a remnant from an earlier orchard. to be honest we don't pay much attention to its well-being but every year it blooms as well as most others in the countryside. But like every tree, there's a long, long way to go before that bloom produces any fruit and by the end of May the flowers and the bees are all gone and other forces are at work deep in the heart of every apple ovary. It's not long before the smallest of apples begin to appear where the blossom was and, for the next couple of months they simply grow and grow until harvest time. But it only takes another big wind to dislodge them from their lofty perches and often by late September, the trees that looked laden in August are somewhat lighter, with a mixture of large, beautifully formed fruit and small, insignificant apples. Which is where our tree comes back in to the story. Like I said, we don't tend it much during the year, expecting it to do the business every harvest but most years the apples are no larger than golf balls and usually covered with imperfections and stains. I know what I need to do to improve it. I just haven't got round to doing it yet.

So what am I thinking. I'm thinking that apple blossom is no indicator of how big, how much or how good the apple crop will be. I'm thinking that a lot has to happen before harvest and the care of the farmer is vital. But I'm thinking that other things can affect the trees at any stage. And I'm thinking that the blossom of new birth for a Christian is only the start. How many have fallen along the way because of other things that shake them? How many have not paid attention to cultivating their faith after that initial blossom has gone? How many have produced smaller fruit than they should have? And how many never produced any fruit at all? Isaiah tells us that 'The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.' That is how we tend to the fruit when the blossom has gone by growing in His word and finding our nourishment from within its pages. Taste and see!