Apple Trees

My daddy has this favorite phrase that he says: "Apple trees produce apples." I think it is some version of 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.' However, I remember growing up when he would say this I would always retort back "Well, I am an orange!" I didn't feel like I belonged. If they were all apples and apple trees then I must not be an apple, therefore I was an orange. This of course was extremely silly looking back because I realize that I do belong and always have. It wasn't until I had matured enough to think more outside of myself that this was the case. We were a family and of course no two apples were the same. I didn't have to force myself to be on the outside. I was just scared.
I had forgotten about this until the other night when a young man who I go to college with said to me "Well, I guess you are the odd one out then?" It hurt my feelings way more than he could have ever known. I had been talking about my family and he chose to draw this conclusion. However, I was glad that the Lord had shown me this wasn't the case and that I didn't have to accept what other people said about me as fact. I could know where my value was because it was in the Lord. And He said that I was His.
I am sure that this guy was just joking around and didn't mean to hurt my feelings but it did. However, I am so very thankful that the Lord swept in and intercepted those dangerous thous self-incriminating thoughts before they could take hold.
Apple trees produce apples. I am not an orange.