Wine and people are a lot alike in benefiting from tender loving care. Making wine involves attention to grapes’ and wine’s delicacy at every step of the way: planting, growing, harvesting, crushing, storing, bottling, and cellaring. If you are not careful with every facet, you risk diminishing its quality, since wine is a product of both the genetics of the grape and the environment in which it is grown, made, and protected.
People also benefit from tender loving care. Parents and teachers help children develop value and self worth in the ways they give them encouragement to do and be their best. Adults accomplish more when they work in an environment of mutual respect and cooperation, with sensitivity for each other’s particular quirks and characteristics.
How wonderful it is when the loving care that goes into making wine culminates in toasts celebrating life’s wonderful relationships. This delicate fruit of a carefully tended vine comes alive through words and sips, as people treat each other with the kind of care and attention that produced the wine.
Sincere toasts and good wishes contribute to the quality of life: moments to savor in seeking blessings and well-being for those near and dear ... here and now.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS FOR SIPPIN':
- What analogy could you make between the caring process of turning grapes into wine and its application in your life?
What parallels could you draw between how people treat plants and other forms of life and their fellow humans?
