A Living Teaching from the Field Tree
🍋There once was a lemon tree named Lemmy,
who stood with quiet brilliance beside the driveway.
He shimmered with sunlight, held fruit like treasure,
and gave generously to those who lived in his care.
His lemons were golden, sweet, and alive with zest —
nourishing, cleansing, delighting the tongue and the soul.
Those who lived with Lemmy loved him.
They spoke to him. They thanked him.
They used his fruit in every way they could —
zesting, freezing, juicing, giving to neighbors.
Lemmy thrived in that love.
He bore 700 lemons in a single season.
He bloomed twice,
as if to say: “Yes. I feel your gratitude. Here is more.”
One day, a neighbor crossed the street.
Without asking, she picked Lemmy’s fruit.
When asked not to, she pointed to her own tree.
It bore no fruit. “But you have so many,” she said.
“As if that made it hers,” whispered the wind.
Another day, a delivery man stopped by.
He asked if he could pick Lemmy’s lemons.
The answer was no.
But he was given several. Freely. As a gift.
Both spoke of their own trees,
which had stopped bearing fruit.
And so it was revealed:
They reached not just for lemons,
but for the fruit of a tree
they had not tended, spoken to, or loved.
They reached from longing —
not just for taste,
but for what they had not grown.
This is coveting –
To reach for the fruit of another’s joy,
not by invitation, but by entitlement.
But this is also discernment –
To give from the heart,
without surrendering the root.
Lemmy’s teaching is this:
💛 Love what you tend. Tend what you love.
Ask before reaching. Give without depletion.
And honor the trees that bear fruit
not because they must —
but because they are loved.
