Clove Apples
I am sitting in the kitchen while my Aunt is preparing
her apples to make her Apple Crisp for dessert.
My Aunt turns to me and says, “Have you heard of a “clove apple?” I look over puzzled, “No, but I know what
cloves are; one of the spices in making pumpkin pies.” “Your Mom never told you about clove apples?” Hmm, this is something my mother never
mentioned. My Aunt proceeds to tell me about
clove apples and walks out of the kitchen to her pantry and brings back a small
container of cloves and I take a whiff; strong smell. My Aunt walks over to get an apple and says she
would show me how one was made and then I would make my own clove apple. That evening, as I awoke from my nap to have dinner,
I found my Aunt sitting in the recliner, stabbing her apple with cloves.
I was curious and looked up “clove apple.” A clove apple is a common term for what is
called a pomander. Pomander comes from
the French term, pomme d’ambre which describes small gold or silver balls filled with perfumes
inside that were attached to a chain and commonly worn around the neck, around
the waist or attached to a woman’s girdle.
Pomanders were first mentioned in the thirteenth century in literature
and were popularly used in the middle ages to the seventeenth century. People believed that wearing a pomander would
protect them from infectious pestilence, or useful in modifying bad smells. Today, people are apt to use apples or oranges
and decorate them with cloves around the Christmas holidays. An observation about the clove apple gave me insight that I find
very interesting.
My Aunt told me that an apple full of cloves can last
for quite a while, it will not rot or turn.
There is a bond between the cloves and the apple. The apple survives because of the cloves that
are inserted into the apple and thus the apple draws its life from the cloves. Sometimes the clove apple can last for a year
or more and still provide a sweet-smelling savor throughout the kitchen. I am going to hang one up in my car. The image of the clove apple reminds me of a
song I wrote a while back that has the following bridge between my verses and
chorus.
May
my life find your favor
Like
a sweet-smelling savor
I
give myself –
Lord,
I give myself to you –
I am like the clove apple. The Holy Spirit is like the cloves. The Holy Spirit need to be indwelling “in me”-inserted
in order for my life to be a sweet-smelling savor. Like the apple sacrificing itself, it is longer
an ordinary apple, but a changed apple that will not quickly rot but live on to
give off a strong sweet aroma. May my
life be as such as I have observed in the clove apple.
The following song is titled, A Living Sacrifice and
it is based Romans 12:1-2 and Ephesians 5:1-2.
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