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<\/p>\n\n\n\nI have three fruit trees:
A lemon tree, a mandarin tree, and a pink orange tree. I cherish them all, and fawn over their flowers and fruit.
I\u2019ve learned that the mandarin tree will rotate in fruit. One year, it will bear a lot of fruit, and the next, far less. Last year was a low fruit year. In fact, the lowest harvest yet, only ten or twelve.
Last year was a tough year for both of us, really.
But a funny thing happened. I had counted the fruits, waiting for the hard green balls to turn color and show bright in the midst of the green leaves. Then I would have a true count of the number.
And I picked and ate the delicious little fruit.
But some of them were small and didn\u2019t turn orange. That was strange. I thought they might dry up and fall off.
That would have been sad but it happens.
I kept an eye on those green balls. They stayed on the tree as the flowers came for next year\u2019s harvest. And then the flowers became little baby fruit.
And the green fruits stayed on. Like ancestor fruit alongside the child fruits.
They were making up their own timing.
It\u2019s October now. These ancestor mandarins have begun to orange. Not in a hurry. Not all the way and not too fast<\/p>\n\n\n\n
.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
See that? An ancestor fruit above this years young fruit.
I took a plunge and picked one. It was a real fruit! Yes, a bit dry, but a worthy example of its kind.
There at least as many of these late ripening ancestor mandarins as the whole harvest last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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I thought I knew this tree. I thought I knew how this world works and what I could expect.
It\u2019s just a little tree, but it made a different choice. I am amazed that such a thing could happen, and I have no idea why.
I\u2019d like to have some kind of wisdom to pull out of this situation. It\u2019s not my wisdom though. My mandarin tree is the mysterious one.
What made the choice to take the road less traveled? The flowers? The fruit? The sun and the moon in the sky? The taste of the water the tree pulled up?
What made these fruits persevere and ripen when it wasn\u2019t the correct time?
Like I said, it\u2019s not my secret. But I did watch the story as it unfolded. I took the time to see the flowers as they were born and speak to my tree. I noticed the fruit as they grew and lived their life.
My part of the mystery and the miracle was taking the time to observe.
To pay attention.
And it was so worth it, to notice. Now I can stand with the strength of my little tree when I have hope for the unexpected and unusual.
I\u2019ve seen it ihappen.
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I have three fruit trees:A lemon tree, a mandarin tree, and a pink orange tree. I cherish them all, and fawn over their flowers and fruit. I\u2019ve learned that the mandarin tree will rotate in fruit. One year, it will … Continue reading