What the Apples Saw
In obedience lies the greatest gifts.
From the moment my bloom folded, and I began to grow, flower giving way to fruit, I knew my purpose. I knew I was not destined to be a gift, but a test; that I was to grow whole and sound, as everything in this garden was, that my goodness might be visible to him.
So I grew. And I was good.
And then the day came.
He was not the first visitor; he was the second. The first came, tall and strong and white. She failed the test. She came over the wall and snatched the fruit, biting into it and rejoicing in the good gifts that spread through her body.
But good gifts only remain good if they come through obedience.
She would regret her theft, her breaking of the commands, regret them for the rest of a very long life.
Then he came, two others with him, and the test was held. Would he commit her sin?
He passed.
He passed, and he plucked me and took me back, back to my Creator, and then he sowed me well.
And from the fruit of his obedience grew one of his greatest gifts.