GOD’S BEST APPLE

Once there lived a little girl on earth. One fine morning she came to know that God was giving away apples to humans in his castle in Heaven. The child was very happy to hear that piece of news. She therefore went all the way to heaven with a feeling of excitement about getting an apple from none other than God.

When the little girl reached heaven, she found a long queue waiting outside the castle to get an apple from God. The little girl too joined that queue. While she was waiting for her turn, her heart was full with feelings of excitement and pleasure as she was going to get an apple from the hands of God. When her turn came, the little girl showed both her hands to fetch the apple for which she was waiting so eagerly. God gave her the apple and her face was lit up with a big smile. The moment she started walking away, she stumbled onto something and the precious apple fell down as her little hands could not hold it well. There was mud all over the apple as it was completely soiled. The girl could not eat it any more and hence she was sad and disappointed. The minister who was standing there and watching everything, told her not to loose heart and have patience. He said to have faith that God is kind to everyone and hope that he will give her another apple however, if she wants to have another apple from God, she has to stand in the queue again and wait for her turn just as before. The girl had already waited for a long time and at the end of it she did not have anything. She did not want to return home empty handed. Therefore, she decided to join the queue again and wait for her turn so that she could walk home with an apple in her hand. The queue this time was even longer than the first time. While waiting for her turn in the queue, the little girl saw a many people going back with a big red apple in hand. She could clearly see a feeling of great contentment on their faces. But she was the only person who was sad as she felt she missed the opportunity which was already in her hands. She asked herself the question why she alone did not get the apple while all others managed to get it so easily. What wrong had she done for which she was suffering like this? The child was very afraid and anxious as she did not want to miss the opportunity this time. Again her turn came and everything went absolutely fine. God gave an apple in her little hands, smiled and said, "My dear child, the first time when I gave you an apple it fell down on the mud and got soiled. But the fact is, when you were walking away with it, I noticed that it was rotten and therefore I made it fall from your hands. I felt bad for you as it was not the fault of your tiny hands. I wanted to give you the best apple in my farm but at that time the best apple in the farm was not ripe and for that reason I made you wait so long time in the queue. Now the apple that you are holding in your little hands is the best apple of my farm till date. Enjoy your apple!"

Sometimes it so happens in our lives that inspite of putting in the best of our efforts, dedication and commitment, things go wrong, get delayed or simply do not happen the way we planned. These are tough times when we need to have patience and faith. We should have firm belief that whatever has happened, has happened because God has something great for us and no matter how long the wait, we should always hope for the best things to happen. Patience, faith and hope are the three things that bring happiness to our lives.