[Seasons: Summer XVIII]
Summer growth is robust and resilient. In spring, the growth is tender and vulnerable. Frost can wipe out an entire orchard of orange blossom or wilt a whole garden of tulips. But summer weather is predictable and summer growth is sturdy.
Except for berries.
At the heart of summer strength is the tender flesh and wonderful diversity in flavors of berries.
We can overemphasize one trait and eclipse the others. This is the mistake of a naive craving for simplicity and control. It’s nowhere else more evident than in religion.
We simplify the Divine to a one-dimensional, predictable, singular trait… and are blind to the wildly diverse and complex traits of one worthy of our devotion.
All the poets and mystics and people that have sacrificed their lives to experience God that I know, don’t find pure strength or unlimited power; they encounter tenderness, love, and mystery.
Summer berries help lead us to this kind of God.
