The fresh citrus caught my eye. With its withered stem, one orange transported me from Abu Dhabi to central Florida. I was standing there with a client, an older, weather-beaten farmer, in one of his orchards. The trees were loaded with fruit. The harvest seemed imminent. Everything in the orchard was real, alive, and in my face. The farmer was kind and sensitive. He intuitively knew I was eager and clueless. He reached for a fruit still connected with the tree. Gently, the connection with the tree intact as he held the fruit in his hand, he began to share and teach.
I held the fruit alone in the stillness. I was again connected to the source, listening with renewed awareness to what I did not know and could not see.
Wisdom lives on. It cannot be extinguished with time or absence. It is eternal, living to be reborn in every generation. The farmer’s time has ended. His kindness and care on that late spring morning lives on within me. The truths he shared with me on that day were not his own. Each was a gem he had been gifted with to nurture and attend to. Then and now, I realised it was Divinity’s nature talking with me. I felt as though I had experienced the observations left a long time ago; “Recently, he spoke to us directly through his Son. By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end.” (Hebrews 1.2)
Wisdom is to be used to be valuable. In hearing the echo of the farmer’s words, I find myself embracing patience. I see myself in context; not everything I think I can do is what fits the situation. Sweet, tart, firm, and soft are alternatives that work in one context without being the best for another. The lesson I walked away with brought these together. The farmer knew each fruit had a purpose. Wisdom can give birth to awareness, context, and action for good when embraced in the moment.
Harvest time.
