Over the last 10 years I have been able to do a little wine tasting, and one of the words I have become acquainted with is “terroir.” It comes from the Old French and means land or earth, but the truth is that it covers so much more. Oenophiles know that it means the total environment that wine is nurtured in; the wind, sun, temperature, rain – everything that adds to the total definition of a grape. One of the most fascinating things I learned was that numerous sections of grapes that face the same way at the same height on the same hill can end up tasting differently from one another; each section is impacted in a unique way by the different outside forces impacting it. You can actually taste and see the difference if you have an excellent palate. Mine isn’t acute enough, but many people are able to tell.
As I think about my life, I recognize the terroir that has impacted me. This concept also explains, at least to me, how siblings who are raised in the same house and community by the same parents can end up being so different from each other. Sure, nature plays as important a role as nurture, but we all have different friends and experiences. Each terroir is different, and each terroir is meaningful. These differences should also remind us that we must always be very careful to not make assumptions; I don’t know what you have been through, and you don’t know what I have been through. Each terroir is unique.
What is your terroir? How has your family and environment shaped you? Some people are raised by stable parents while others are not. Some of us have lots of good friends; some do not. And just because you may seem to have had the best upbringing in the world, there are other forces, many of them chaotic, that shape you. Too many of us make judgments about other people based on our own lives, not considering what those others have been through. I try really hard to take a moment to ask myself how the people I come in contact with may have been shaped differently than I have. They are still beautiful children of God who might need to be given a break because they haven’t had many of them before. And they may not have been as lucky as the person sitting next to them. Jesus said that we will be judged in the way we judge others. Wise counsel.
Prayer – Holy God, help us to see one another with compassion and patience, because none of us is exactly the same. Amen.
Today’s art is of a Sonoma vineyard by Ron Aucutt.