Thursday

“Leave it alone for one more year…”

Read Luke 13:1-9, particularly verse 8.

         I love having a garden. Granted, it never goes well because the resident deer consider it to be their personal salad bar…but I love having it nonetheless. What I am not particularly, when it comes to gardening, is patient. I love to plant the seeds, water them…and pick the fruits and vegetables they produce. But there always seems to be far too much waiting in between the seed-planting and the actual harvesting. And then there’s the inevitable plant that doesn’t really grow. It might produce a little shoot and then…nothing. Those plants are annoying and a waste of perfectly good garden space.

         When Jesus tells the parable of the fig tree that wasn’t producing anything figgy, the initial question speaks to my impatience. “Cut it down! What should it use up soil?” But the response is more than patient; it is kind, nurturing, and hopeful. “Leave it alone just one more year and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it.” This was not just a wait-and-see kind of response; the man cared enough to nurture and develop the tree.

         In the same way, God is patient with us. He longs for us to produce fruit and will walk alongside us to facilitate that process. In the same way that the tree will not produce fruit unless it takes advantage of the fertilizer around it, neither will we bear spiritual fruit unless we absorb the rich truths God provides for our lives. And, as the story ends, we see that there will come a day when it is too late to bear fruit. Let us not see that day. -AB

Holy Spirit, dwell in us and produce much fruit, that we may not be found wanting in the last days. Thank you for your presence. Amen.