Bible reading 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. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”
We inherited a plum tree in our garden. The first summer we had fruit and I made jam. Roger pruned it with care and we waited expectantly for the next summer’s crop but nothing happened for 2 years. The tree seemed to give up on us and started to look very sad indeed. I pushed for us to take up what appeared to be a dead tree and instead plant a new one; I’ve always been impatient for results. But my husband was reluctant – he’d spent time on that tree and he didn’t really want to see all that effort go to waste. We agreed to give it one more season, but if there was no crop that year it would have to go.
So, the tree was fed, watered, pruned, generally cared for. That spring there were signs of a little plum blossom. Then a few leaves came. As summer burgeoned so the tree seemed to wake up and became a home to birds and insects. We even got one or two fruit.
We kept the tree and it’s still with us. We get some blossom and a little fruit from it each year and we keep hoping that one year a bumper crop will happen and we will have jam again.
Consider our tree and what we can learn from it. That tree is not just for us – it’s part of the garden’s ecosystem and benefits other forms of wild life. It also gives us much needed shade to sit out in the summer. It is an old tree which once was planted with love and care; it carries the history of the garden with it.
I’m so thankful God our Father is more patient with me than I would have been with that tree! Sometimes we need time to bear fruit and sometimes we all go through dry patches when we need God to give us love and time – to be patient and keep faith with us. Prayer: Thank you Creator God for your patience with us. Give us patience too, with each other and with all your creation. May we listen for the word of your Holy Spirit to discern the right way to live and the right decisions to make to bring your fruitfulness into the world. Amen