Persimmon

This is an excerpt from the weekly News-Loveletter. If you would like it sent to your inbox directly (with all the other juicy bits, including a mini joy practice), you can add yourself to my mailing list here.

It snuck up on me this year, the ripening of persimmons. At the market last week, the little orange globes caught my eye and stopped me in my tracks.

Thirty years ago, I’d not yet discovered persimmons. Can you imagine? That riot of December beauty, contrast, and sweetness happening beyond my circle of embrace? It reminds me of the number of things I have not yet discovered. The world is full of so much splendor that we cannot possibly cross paths with all of it in one lifetime.

And that’s just on the outside. What sweetness when the changing of our tastes allows soft-ripened cheese to become a delicacy! How about the friend we took for granted, whose true colors emerge in a crisis and then we come to value them all the more? There is a quiet settling within me that creates ongoing space for new discoveries. These revelations awaken me in part to myself and in part to the world. When I’m feeling bored (which happens rarely), I remember the persimmon and all the magic waiting just around the corner.

Is there a plant or fruiting body which reminds you of all the wonder in the world? And does that wonder awaken you to the wonder of your own inner being?