RESTORING AN "OLD APPLE TREE" A Living Metaphor

BEFORE

Unfortunately, the effects of time and circumstances are unavoidable, even if you are merely a favorite backyard apple tree. Battered by years of storm and climbing kids and other big family events, even the most venerable of stock eventually yields to age and decay. So it is with this beloved tree. It still stands tall and proud even though it has been wracked by loss of limb, and untold attacks on its strength and structural integrity. In recent times it has suffered major loss and now depends upon props and trusses and reinvented strategies to maintain its posture and purpose. The challenge now is how to most effectively renew its function and restore its vigor. Both will take time and TLC.

Fruit trees all benefit from a periodic, seasonal "pruning". Last year's dross and ineffective portions must be removed to promote focus on this year's renewal. With an apple tree that requires cutting away unwanted growth and outbursts (watersprouts and suckers) that sap the strength in unproductive ways, removing limbs that crossover and impede other parts, branches that "rub" others wrong, and the dead and decayed parts that are dead weight robbing the tree's strength. Every effort must be employed to thin out the excessive clutter of potential fruit spurs to allow for full and desired growth only on those branches most likely to produce full-sized, healthy fruit. This may result in fewer apples, but in return those which do develop will be larger and more mature.

AFTER

Once the goal is understood, pruning begins and the plan begins to emerge. Every part of the tree must receive equal attention. The strong sides of the tree which have faced the sun will show the effect of preferred growth and will demonstrate greater strength and density. The other side will be weker and will need more help to achieve recovery. The tendency is toward such crowding of those smaller branches that the leaf canopy which results will shade out and inhibit the growth of any fruit which may set for the new season. Judicious pruning will open up the upper portions so light and air can both penetrate into the tree and reach even the other side. The outcome desired is for a more even distribution of fruit throughout the tree which shares the stress of producing a crop with all the branch system. When the task is completed, a lot of material will have been removed, and focus and attention will have been restored to all the crown. Hopefully the tree will continue to bear good fruit - perhaps fewer apples, but better ones. At the same time we strive to extend the fruitful service of the older tree, we should also be looking toward a new generation by planting younger trees now that will be able to bear their own crops in the future. That planning ahead is also a part of a life plan so that current apple supply does not need to end if the "old apple tree" should completely fail.

THE METAPHOR

If I were more confident, I would leave the story above to be discovered and unpacked by those who know me best and who know who my dearest friends are. However, just as severe events can bring sudden and horrifying damage to the structure of a tree, sometimes the storms of life bring unexpected and devasting injury to those who have carried enormous weights of duty and stress for so long. As a tree struck by wind or lightening is cleft beyond much hope, a man's life can be abrubtly and crushingly altered. What has stood so strongly for so long is suddenly broken and in the direst jeopardy. What seems unassailable becomes victim to unforseen mortal ills. Such a mighty stroke fells the tallest tree to the ground. I have a friend like that.

Still, even in the darkest winter days, hope prevails. There are trees, and men, that do not give up. In spite of their plight, these are the ones that continue to strive and which will indomitably blossom and fruit in their season, and which will continue to cause and encourage growth in every possible way. Though stricken, they find the strength from within and from above to overcome adversity and enter a time of restoration and renewal. Their comeback may be halting and measured, and they may need considerable help and patience, but their spirits will not accept defeat. These individuals are an inspiration to me. My friend is one of these heros.

Life and the apple tree are parallel in many ways; both our trees and our lives benefit from judicious, timely pruning. It is a period of rejuvenation during which the ineffective or the impossible or whatever else hinders must be pruned away. What remains must be refocused, and redirected, and encouraged so the the strongest parts which survive have the greatest chance of attaining a few more seasons of "apples". There may be fewer achievements, but they may be life's most important fruit and they are often the sweetest of all. Yes, we should set goals, and when troubles interrupt we should be quick and willing to refine both our purpose and our procedures, achieving, perhaps, fewer good works, but those which are more important and more essential, and thus more valuable. In these latter seasons of productivity there still remains opportunity to prepare a new generation the "fill the orchard" with future crops. I think my friend has this in mind.

It is April; both apples and heros are begining to bloom again. I can't wait to see this year's crop. And By-the-Way, the tree in the pictures is in his backyard.