contrary motion

In my backyard there is a lovely peach tree who (yes, the personification of 'who' was intended) is just this week starting to drop peaches. When washing one of the peaches to have with breakfast this morning, something occurred to me.
I've never before noticed how peaches grow from the inside out, but they seem to ripen from the outside inward. My particular peach was somewhere in between being completely ripe, and having a few days left to go - this left the center a little hard and a little reminiscent of green. I felt much like my peach.

There is a difference between growing from within, and being softened, altered, colored, and hopefully sweetened, from the environment without. It often seems more painful to be ripened than to grow.

It made me think of how flourishing is not only an internally driven process. A person may grow a great deal by sitting alone in a room and pondering the world, but it's not the same type of growth as a person who has been slowly and thoroughly effected by the world around them. It is possible to have all of the elements, and yet not be cultivated by the fresh air and sunlight of otherness.

It is occurring to me today how wonderful it is to live in a world with all of you. I am so glad that there are those who love sunny days when I prefer rain. I'm delighted that when each day is inconveniently not what I expected, it is because there are other people that I am sharing it with. It's nice to know that the discomfort of coldness while I'm watching a sunset is because the experience is incarnate, and not fabricated in my mind. I'm happy that when a car cuts me off on the freeway, it is because there is another soul with a will other than mine that just broke into my narcissistic 'American Dream' to shout that I am not alone in this universe. It is not good to be alone.

So, thank you. Thank you to each of you who read this. I'm so glad that I don't live in a world of isolation. It's a good thing.