A Season of Replenishing
by Rev. Cindy Halvorson, MDiv, DMin
My apple tree had three apples on it.
Last year, when we bought our country property, the tree had an abundance of small apples that flourished into beautiful, luscious fruit. We ate apples, baked with apples, froze apples, and gave apples to family and friends. But this year, my apple tree had three apples on it. When I asked my neighbors about my nearly empty apple tree, they told me that some trees produce fruit every other year. While many of you might already know this information, it was new knowledge for me. So, I did what most people would do with new info – I googled it to see if it was true. Apparently, I have very knowledgeable neighbors. Google agreed with them. As I continued researching, I learned that some apple trees take a year off from generating fruit, especially if the previous growing season produced a bumper crop. The year of not creating fruit allows the tree to be replenished so it can produce fruit the next season.
I wonder if nature, once again, has a lesson for us. Maybe human beings need some time to be unproductive in order to be replenished for the next task, the next project, the next season. I suspect that many of us might concur with the concept. I can quickly wrap my mind around the theory, nodding my head in agreement; yet, when I have a time of being unproductive, I feel uneasy. It somehow seems as though I am not living up to my potential, or I’m squandering my gifts and energy, or I’m at the edge of developing a bad habit of wasting time and being lazy.
I wonder … in our society, have we shifted our view of our own productivity to that of machines instead of nature? The expectation to be constantly productive and highly efficient with little down-time matches our industrialized country. The use of machines has benefitted us greatly.
But we, as humans, are not machines. We are a part of nature.
The next time those nagging misgivings want to circumvent my time of replenishing, I want to remember that those objections do not get to dictate my life. I can choose! Being intentional about down-time, creating conditions so I can be restored, can override the qualms of being unproductive for a season. I can lovingly place my hand on my heart, reminding myself that sometimes an apple tree had three apples on it.
I wonder … could we take a lesson from nature and embrace the seasons of producing and seasons of replenishing? Care to join me in trying?
My apple tree had three apples on it.
May all our wonderings and wanderings lead us home.
