I was at Berkeley Horticulture today, buying a Mexican lime tree for our back yard (for margaritas in years to come). While I had the clerk’s attention, I asked her why my three-year-old apple tree hadn’t bore fruit yet. She told me it was still young. “A young tree expends its energy setting deep roots, not blossoms.”

I thought about my own young children (seven year old twins) and how much like apple saplings I hope they are — digging deep roots and not expending energy on anything showy.

Like most good things that bear fruit, it takes time, and deep roots.