An embarrassment of mangoes

My Julie mango tree has been blessing me every day with what a friend laughingly calls an “embarrassment of mangoes”. I have never had this tree bear so profusely. These two photos represent one day’s reaping – the first lot I gathered in the morning, and the second in the evening. I am not upset anymore when I spot a seemingly perfect, unblemished mango and find that a blackbird has gotten to it first. There is more than enough to share with all. I have become an ambulatory mango basket, giving away mangoes wherever I go – to family, friends, team members at work, garbage collectors and teachers and staff at my children’s school. I also notice a similar embarrassment of mangoes all over Kingston. Everywhere I go I see trees laden, boughs almost touching the ground, more fruit than leaves. Vendors on the sidewalks are surrounded by buckets and tubs piled high with mangoes of all variety, hawking them by the dozen. 

Last September Tropical Storm Gustav wreaked havoc on Jamaica. For days it tumbled rain upon us. It brought down my backyard wall and fence. The rains caused landslides, washed away homes, bridges and roads. People lost their lives. But it also pruned the trees, aerated the roots and thoroughly watered and nourished the soil. The results? Bumper crops of otaheite apples, breadfruit, citrus – and now mangoes.

It is the same way in our lives. Things happen to us that are chaotic, disruptive and traumatic. Yet as time passes we come to realise that they created real good in our lives. Have you ever said in wonder “What a good thing so and so happened”? At the time, “so and so” was quite chaotic and painful, yet months or even years later, when we see the growth in ourselves, we recognise that some good resulted because of it. Just to be able to see the good in a situation is a blessing.

Today, look for the blessings in your life. Look at a situation that is painful for you and give thanks for your growth and any good at all that has come from it. This is not to deny the pain, just to accept it and recognise the good. In accepting the mangoes from my tree, I am not at all denying the devastation of Gustav, just giving thanks for the blessings. Give thanks today for the bumper crop of blessings flowing through your life.