Luke 13:6-9
Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing
in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who
took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for
fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up
the soil?’
“‘Sir,’ the man replied,
‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it
bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”
An offering from Elizabeth Guice
I love this parable because it reminds me to let go
and to let things unfold in their own time. For me, it delivers a message of
patience and faith, and of miracles about what is happening beneath the surface
that is invisible to the eye. It’s about
nature and the wonders of it. And it’s
about recognizing that our timing is not God’s timing. We live in a world of immediate answers and
satisfaction. Where we are lured into
believing that we can control outcomes and have all of the answers based on
knowledge and the abundance of information at our fingertips. And yet, so often, I’m reminded of just how
little I understand, of just how little control I have over the workings of the
universe, and of just how amazing the miracles of life are. When a relationship that I had almost given
up on changes or a previously dormant talent is discovered, I’m reminded that
even when it looks like nothing is happening, something is shifting. When I step out into our beautiful world to a
bright day that bathes me in sunshine after a stretch of gray days, I’m
reminded that no current state of affairs (be it the weather or emotions) lasts
forever. When I hear someone’s story, I
remember that we are all more complex than I ever imagined and my heart swells
with compassion and understanding. When
I see our seniors and reflect on who they were as underclassmen (or middle or
lower school students!), they serve as living proof that we all mature and
change…but over periods of time. Just
like the fig tree in this parable, we have to give ourselves and others an
opportunity to root so that we can stand firmly as we start to grow. We have to trust in God’s timing and not try
to mold His plan to match our agenda.
It’s a challenge – one that I struggle with as that sense of
predictability often brings more peace in the present. But for the overall unfolding of our lives,
I’m comforted and grateful that there is a greater plan at work, even if it
means that a fig tree is left in my orchard a year longer than I might have
wished in order for it to bear fruit.
Prayer
O God of all seasons and senses, grant us the sense
of your timing to submit gracefully and rejoice quietly in the turn of the
seasons. In this season of short days and long nights, of grey and white
and cold, teach us the lessons of endings; children growing, friends leaving,
loved ones dying, grieving over, grudges over, blaming over, excuses
over...teach us the lessons of beginnings; that such waitings and endings may
be the starting place, a planting of seeds which bring to birth what is ready
to be born - something right and just and different, a new song, a deeper
relationship, a fuller love - in the fullness of your time. O God, grant
us the sense of your timing. (~Ted Loder)
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