Fearless Faith

When it comes to fruit trees, patience is perhaps the largest hurdle. After five years of gentle coaxing, three small apple trees have declared that this will be their breakout year. A couple dozen apples last year were reason enough to raise the hope of forward progress, but we were pleasantly surprised that this year’s crop is well over two hundred. The apples might not be perfect, but they represent a victory of patience nonetheless.

My history with apples is long. I loved the smell of apples cooking in my grandparent’s kitchen and knowing that something wonderful was close behind. Dumpling...