One day
an
elderly
man
entered
into a
hospital. He was
grumpy
from
being on
medication
and the
nurses
thought
him to
be
insane,
as he
yelled
for his
wife to
get the
apple
basket. By the
time
they had
checked
him into
his room
the
nurses
were
exhausted
from the
fight he
was
putting
up.
"Sir
you have
to calm
down we
are
doing
everything
we can
for
you"
they
would
try to
explain.
"I
don't
need
your
help"
the
grumpy
man
would
yell
"I
want my
apple
basket."
He
finally
slept.
The
nurses
sighed
with
relief
and
talked
among
themselves
whether
they
should
call the
hospital
psychologist
about
the old
man and
his
obsession
with the
apple
basket.
As they
talked
and
laughed
about
the
situation
the wife
came in
carrying
the
basket
of
apples.
They
looked
kind of
stunned
as she
asked if
she
could
see her
husband
and
deliver
his
basket. Sure,
they
agreed
as they
watched
her slip
past
into his
room.
Curiosity
consumed
them
over the
next few
weeks as
they
tended
to the
elderly
man.
He
was
eaten
with
cancer
and the
doctors
had
given
him no
hope of
survival.
He
turned
out to
be a
very
calm,
happy
man once
he had
his
basket.
His
wife,
they
noticed,
would
come in
with
apples
and go
out with
apples
and the
curiosity
grew
even
more
till one
nurse
couldn't
stand
the
suspense.
One
night as
he was
nearing
the end,
the
nurse
sat down
in a
chair by
the
wife." May I
ask why
do you
have
that
apple
basket?
I just
don't
understand
the
significance."
"I
am an
apple
farmer
by trade
he
sighed.
From the
time I
was 20
till the
day I do
die I
will
forever
have my
apples."
The
nurse
nodded
thinking
she
understood.
He just
likes
his
work,
she
thought,
assured
now he
was a
little
bit
crazy.
As she
started
to
leave,
the old
man
asked
her to
sit
down.
"At
age 20 I
was
saved, I
accepted
the Lord
as my
Savior."
Oh no,
the
nurse
thought,
here
comes
the
lecture
on
religion.
The old
man
continued.
"The
day I
accepted
the Lord
as my
Savior I
got this
basket,
and each
time I
had a
problem
or
concern
that I
could
not
handle,
I put an
apple in
the
basket
un-shined."
"Why?"
the
nurse
said
shaking
her
head.
"Because
it
reminded
me to
give
those
problems
to the
Lord for
him to
shine.
See my
basket
now, he
stated.
As my
problems
disappear
so do
the
apples.
As I get
new
problems,
ones I
cannot
handle
alone, I
put an
apple
in."
The
humble
nurse
looked
into the
basket .
. .
only one
apple
was
there.
With
that, he
took a
big
breath
and
grabbed
his wife
by the
hand and
faded
into
eternal
sleep.
The wife
paused
for a
moment
and got
up from
her
place to
take
from the
basket
the last
remaining
apple.
She
whispered
in his
ear that
his
reward
awaits
him in
heaven.
The
nurse
stayed
still
and
asked
with
tears in
her
eyes,
"what
do you
think
his
riches
will
be?"
The wife
knew
what
they
were,
eternal
life
with
Jesus
Christ.
But she
could
see the
concern
and
sadness
upon the
young
nurses'
face and
handed
her the
apple
and said
"the
biggest
apple
pie you
can
imagine!"
That was
the day
the
young
nurse
was
"saved,"
and from
that day
on she
too
always
had a
basket
of
apples
by her
bed.
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