“Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me under the shadow of your wings.” Psalm 17:8
Reflection: I usually take an apple along on a hike—a day hike, that is. However, a fresh apple has a lot of moisture in it which makes it heavy, relatively speaking. For a backpacker who is out 5-6 days before resupplying, carrying a fresh apple for each day on the trail is a considerable weight burden; apples also take up precious pack space. So backpackers carry dried fruit: it doesn’t spoil, bruise or add much weight. But on the trail, oh, how I missed a good, crisp apple for lunch! So now when I pray, “Keep me as the apple of your eye,” it is with awe that to be an apple in God’s eyes I must be valued, and will be carried along, maybe with some effort, to be a small part of God’s plan for nurturing this world. By the way, if you want to make someone joyful, walk on or sit by the AT (aka trail angel) next summer when thru-hikers are plentiful and hand them some fresh apples (trail magic).
Suggestions:
1. Take this verse with you and ponder its meaning for you throughout the day. What do you notice? What do you wonder? (Clicking on photo enlarges it.) What does being the “apple of God’s eye” mean to you?
2. Or read all of Psalm 17 to discover how this verse fits into the psalm.
3. Or comment with a photo of your own that illustrates this verse’s meaning for you.
Tomorrow’s verse: Psalm 18:1
Starting January 1, 2016, for 150 days I am posting a daily psalm verse with a photo that is a visual meditation on the text for me. Each day a verse from the next psalm is chosen until all 150 psalms have been featured. To participate you may subscribe to my blog at https://elainedent.net or “friend” me on Facebook and watch for the daily links to blog posts. Disclaimer: I am not a photographer and most of the photos are from a cell phone or small camera while hiking the Appalachian Trail or the C&O Canal/Great Allegheny Passage Trail.
Kelvin Wright says
So, how exactly, does someone leave a photo in a comment? There doesn’t seem to be any mechanism for it.
Elaine says
Golly, I made an assumption, didn’t I, that it would be as easy to post a photo in a comment as it is to do so in Facebook. Now I am very curious because you have the most wonderful photos to share! I will ask my webmaster husband later today; he knows a few wordpress tricks. A few people add photos and comment directly on the Facebook link to the blog. A possibility for “Available Light” although that would exclude those who go directly to elainedent.net from seeing the photo. There’s got to be a way! I’ll get back with an answer.
Richard Dent says
I added a fancy plugin that enhances the vanilla WordPress comments. You should be able to simply put the URL (web address) of the picture in the comment box. It should put the picture where you put the URL. I would LOVE to have someone try it to see how it works!! Actually, here is a pic showing something I have always wanted to see on some remote trail, like might be found in NZ.
https://elainedent.net/wp-wtw/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/au39.gif