Ahhhh summer

My dear friend, Karen Dale, sent the following to me yesterday on the
first day of summer.  I thought it was so lovely that I am passing it
along to you.  Margaret


Ahhhhh, summer!  Haven’t you been longing for it somewhere deep
inside? Shedding your coat, stowing the ice-scraper, dusting off the
beach chairs? Haven’t you been thinking about the last great tomato
you ate about ten months ago? The last strawberry that didn’t taste
like straw? The last corn that didn’t come wrapped in tin?

There’s a guy who, this time every year, sets up his watermelon stand
about a mile from work.  He sits on an old wooden chair under a tri-
colored beach umbrella surrounded by ripe green melons. At the edge of
his display perches one cut watermelon, its ripe red inside dripping
sweet moisture into the rising summer heat. Parched and exhausted, a
thousand weary laborers pass this quenching invitation everyday and
many, including me, succumb.

Understand, this is no simple watermelon vendor.  This is a man who
knows the truth: it is what’s inside that counts.  It is what’s inside
that will ultimately draw or repel us from any reality. When the
surface is cut, what is revealed? Ripe beauty or the tart
disappointment of a too hasty harvest? Oh yes, there are lessons to be
learned from this silent wise man under a rainbow canopy.

As we travel through the stages of our lives, we must learn to wait.
There will be autumns and winters and springs and each will carry its
own flavor into our hearts.  In patient reflection, we learn to absorb
the gift of every season. We learn to savor what our life is teaching
us because nothing is without its precious lesson.

Someone ripened by this kind of wisdom is a gift to the world, whether
that world is vast or fits under the shadow of a colorful umbrella.
Each one of us has the capacity to become such a gift. May the gifts
of this summer help us along the way.

Blessings,
Sister Renee
Sister Renee Yann, RSM
Chief Mission Integration Officer
The AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies