You don't have to let a bad apple spoil the bunch

I had some time in my car today while Des was at her art class.  I went to check out another cemetery - apparently the only one in the area that does burials in the winter and keeps the grounds plowed in the winter.  This is important since her birthday and the anniversary of her death will be in the winter and I want to be able to get to her grave at those times.  It's not as close as I would like, but it's pretty - it's a big field, and I have a thing for wide open fields...love them.

Anyway, what am I talking about....oh yeah, apples.  (Just found out today that I'm also really anemic and I think it's affecting my ability to think, so bear with me)  I was driving along and thinking about all the people who have blessed me lately.  Shannon had me make a list, did my grocery shopping for me, brought them in and even put them away!  Melissa brought us a meal to eat and a meal to freeze, and the next night, we got another meal from Amy.  I've had Kelly here 2 times babysitting and she is taking care of all the details of Rachel's shower.  Denise has been working with me to help make my vision for Rachel's playground a reality and helping me out with many other random things.  The teachers at Tri-City all pitched in, and when I brought Des for her first art class, handed me an envelope with a financial blessing in it.  Roy had one of his electricians come over and do some work at no charge so that we could finally call our mudroom "complete".  Donna stopped by randomly and gave us money because she felt like we should go out on a date. On top of all the ways people we know have cared for us, we have been blown away with what God is doing through our little girl.  This week, we were so blessed to hear from Matt's sister, Angela, who we haven't seen in 1 1/2 years, calling to tell us that she read the blog and to make things right with us.  We got to see her and her daughter, Giada, and spend some time with them.  We have received some of the most encouraging emails and blog comments from people we've never met.  We have been humbled time and time again, even just in this past week, by how God loves us.

What does this have to do with apples?  As I thought of all these people and all that they've done for us, I realized that I have been allowing a few bad apples to spoil my bunch.  God has put a lot of beautiful "apples" in my life.  I have so much to be thankful for.  If I focus on the bad apples, I'll miss the blessing of the good ones.

So, what is it about the "bad apple" that so easily steals our attention??  I think Eve probably can relate... satan has been using bad apples to distract us from God since the beginning of time.  I so often wish Eve would have chosen not to listen to satan, but apparently she was just as human as I am.  Someone wrote in a comment on my recent post, "Don't let satan distract you from what God has in you", I read that and it all clicked... satan would love to have his way with this - well, he can't beat it.  My daughter's life is too precious to let satan distract me from what God has in her.