After many fruitless seasons, imagine my joy to notice a huge bumper crop of pears ripening this past summer. Hardly any fruit dropped during the usual early summer winnowing, and the crows stayed away long enough for the limbs to bend with the coming harvest.

Alas, this abundance came with a cost. A little greedy and a little lazy, I left the pears unattended through the heart of the season, and when the picking time finally came, it was accompanied by a windstorm.

Under these conditions, the abundance became unbearable weight. A number of main limbs snapped, and it will take years for the trees to recover.

It’s so easy for bounty to become overload, especially when the elements involved are positive, or important, or both. Whether a person or a company or a pear tree, maximizing in any one dimension leaves us fragile in others.

Friends, as we tip into these longest nights, let us celebrate the harvest that this year has given.

Let us tend to the small strains, before they become breaks.

Let us prune with care, extending abundance for the seasons to come.