We had unusually warm weather this March. Our apple trees bloomed early. Then we had a cold, frosty April, and all the flowers perished before they could develop into fruit.
Last year, during the flowering stage, these same trees got infested with worms. As the fruits developed, they looked fine from the outside but were being eaten away from the inside.
Just as fruit trees are vulnerable during their flowering stage, humans are more vulnerable as adolescents and young adults. Whatever we are exposed to at this stage makes a big impact on our fruitfulness. Harmful influences, such as physical, sexual or verbal abuse, can completely change the trajectory of a person’s life. Stressful situations that cause instability, including the death of a loved one, divorce, financial difficulties, or moving to a new place, can be debilitating. Even common pollutants like criticism, peer pressure, bullying, rejection, self-image issues, pornography, learning disabilities, alcohol, drugs, promiscuity, etc. can affect the quality and quantity of a person’s fruit for a lifetime.
We don’t have control over many environmental factors. There is little we can do to protect our young people from harmful exposure. All we can do is pay close attention to them and on frosty nights, throw a blanket over them.
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