I have some friends who live near a vineyard. After the owners harvest the grapes, there are still many left on the vines. I joined my friends yesterday and picked “leftovers.” There were a lot of grapes, and I came home with two big baskets full. We have crushed the grapes and strained the juice, and the whole kitchen smells like sweet fruit.
I am neither poor nor alien, but I have benefited from one of God’s holy instructions: “You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19.10) I am reminded of the abundance all around me, enough to go around and then some, enough to share. And there in the vineyard with my friends, we laughed and talked and ate some grapes. It has been a long time since I was out and about just for fun. And there was an abundance in that, too – being able to spend time with others on a late summer morning.
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