The same bramble carries fruit at many stages: small green berries, others deepening through red, and a few already dark and ready. None is failing because it has not ripened at the same time as its neighbour.

Growth has its own rhythm. What is ready today may have needed weeks of hidden change, while what remains unripe is not late—it is simply still becoming.

We are often impatient with ourselves and with one another. Yet creation reminds us that maturity cannot be forced. Some things become sweet only through time, weather, and patient waiting.