They do not bear as much fruit if they grow by themselves. For a blueberry bush to really produce fruit, it needs to be near another blueberry bush. It can produce fruit by itself, but you probably won’t get as much fruit.

• They tend to do better if the blueberry bush they are near is not the same kind of blueberry. Blueberry bushes produce more fruit if they are near a plant that is different from them.
• They grow better if their roots are spread out. If you plant them straight in the ground, it is harder for them to grow. But if you take some time to stretch their roots outward before planting them, they are able to grow much more fruitfully.
• If you say, “the RE kids are planting a couple of blueberry bushes,” then someone who knows a thing or two about blueberry bushes will help out (in this case, Betsey Miessner). And after the kids have planted to blueberry bush, someone else will say, “we should probably put a little fence around those, to make sure they’re safe” (in this case, Myles Crowley). And someone else will say, “I can help water them sometimes” (in this case, Tricia Brennan). If you say, “the RE kids are planting a couple of blueberry bushes,” what that actually translates to is “the Church is planting a couple of blueberry bushes.”

May we grow together, alongside folks who are different from us, all of us reaching out to each other and rooted in love, all of us realizing that we do nothing alone.