This is the time of year when we harvest and enjoy an abundance of flowering fruits. Strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries are ripe for picking in our garden. At the farmer’s market or grocery store, apricots, nectarines, cherries, and apples are plentiful. These wonderful fruits create a feeling of luxury, pleasure and abundance, and a sense of gratitude for living in a world where nothing is lacking.

The gift of fruit also embodies the principle of sharing, as not even the most gluttonous person can consume all the fruit of even just one tree. We can emulate God’s generosity to us with our fellow human beings when we share what we harvest. The abundance of fruit produced by trees and vines is easily shared. I never saw a person who just picked and ate a perfectly ripe raspberry, strawberry, or blueberry experience anything but happiness.

Witnessing and enjoying the reproductive cycle of fruits every year provides insight and inspiration. We can produce our own fruits – bountiful good deeds, with positivity, right where we are. As stated in Deuteronomy (20:19), “A person is like the tree of the field.” With strong roots in knowing who we are and what nurtures us best, we can become just as productive as a tree, year after year. Just as the tree completes its purpose growing fruit annually, we can grow in our work, relationships, and good deeds to fulfill our own mission.