What did you think it meant when you heard that there is a time to weep and a time to laugh? Did you think there would only be weeping? And what about a time to plant and a time to reap? Did you remember only a time to plant and forgot about a time to reap?

Your time to reap has come.

Whatever you may think you have been doing, you have been planting in good soil, and now you are going to reap. Get ready. This is when the seeds you planted are going to bear fruit.

Start walking around your orchard. You will begin to notice the blossoms. They are sprouting. From the blossoms come the fruit. The apples on a tree start small, and then they grow, and then, before you know it, they are ready. Right now is the time to go out and pick those apples you planted and that grew with you in mind. It would be a pity not to.

A tree of blessings is growing in your yard. You may have forgotten that you planted it. And your attention may have been so much on what could befall, that you forgot about gathering that which is yours to gather.

Growth, which is inevitable, seems to take forever, but then suddenly, the vines have grown and grapes wait to be pressed into wine.

You do not want the apples and the grapes to go fallow either. They wait for you to pick them. Give them that joy of your receiving their bounty. They bore their fruit for you, and they hold out their branches to you now.

And when you have so much fruit in your yard, you give away to others. That is the meaning of giving. That is the meaning of tithing. You know you have enough to share with others. You have so much you have extra. You don't want to sit under your tree eating all the apples by yourself.

So there is a time to plant, a time to reap, and a time to give. That is how to grow joy.

You may have thought that you were climbing an endless mountain. You kept climbing but you began to think you would never reach the mountain peak. You began to think there wasn't a peak to reach.

But, finally, at last, in the twink of an eye, you burst through the clouds, and here you are, with all creation before you, sun shining brightly, Heaven in the palm of your hand. And then you want to share your joy. It is no fun by yourself. You want others to see what you are seeing. You want to call out and share your joy.

The truth is you want to share everything. Even what you keep to yourself, you would share if you knew there was plenty. When you are far-seeing at the top of the mountain, you know you don't lose the view by sharing it. You know that the others who come will also share their joy at the summit with you. They will ripple your joy. You all become waves of joy. How vast is your joy!

The reason to share is not to be polite or unselfish. The reason to share is because sharing begets more joy. You really would not wish to keep the earth to yourself. You would not like to have all of it and no one to share it with. You would feel bereft if you had no one to say to: "Come, look. See what I see. Come, have some, too. Come with me."

These are beautiful words — Come with me. And so I say them to you now. Come with Me.