Lessons from a Fig Tree
A single strand of clear lights adorns the fig tree standing sentry in my living room. Aside from the lights, nothing about this tree warrants a second glance, but as is most often the case, the simplest things hold the greatest treasures.
Throughout the Bible, trees are used metaphorically to represent people’s lives and spiritual . . .
health, and because I seem to learn best from object lessons, the LORD has used my fig tree to teach me time and again about Himself, myself, and life in general. I share them in the hope that perhaps some of what He has taught me will resonate with you.
Plucked from a clearance cart in the weeks immediately following my first husband’s death, there was an immediate kinship for this pathetic little plant that looked like I was feeling. Now nearly twenty-seven years later, that scrawny, half-dead seedling is tall, healthy, and strong and has become somewhat synonymous with my life, its outward growth paralleling my inward. I too, had been a scrawny-half-dead seedling in need of rescue by my Father in Heaven.
The first thing I did with the tree was transplant it – new pot and fresh soil. Guess what happened to me after surrendering my life to Christ in July of 1990? I was transplanted to a different province – new dwelling place and fresh soil.
Did you know that a fig tree only grows on the side of its light source? While this is true of most plants, you could physically turn them in order to even out their growth. Turning a fig tree, however, will not affect the same result. It will simply produce new growth on the side now in the light and what had been beautiful, healthy foliage on the other side will just wither up and die. For many years my fig tree was lovely! On one side.
Following the removal of a wall during a home renovation, the tree became bathed in light from both the front and back of the house. Like Forrest Gump’s leg braces falling off and him discovering how fast he could run, that tree flourished! A multitude of leaves filled each branch that stretched upward and outward, licking up every particle of light and warmth. I could almost feel its delight for I too, have basked in the light and warmth of the Presence of my Father, feeling the joy of His pleasure.
And now that the fig tree had all this light, it grew like crazy – in every direction. There were shoots and leaves and tiny branches coming from everywhere, so in order to keep it healthy and in shape, it needed – and continues to need – pruning.
As do we. As we build our relationship with God, we become aware of our sinful nature. Not because He’s wagging His finger at us as naughty children, but because our human inclinations clash with the holiness of God. In the early stages of our Christian walk, we might balk at what needs to change, but as we progress, we actually invite the pruning because it becomes our desire to please our Father. His Word, given to us through the Bible, through others, and to us personally is like a mirror highlighting what needs to change, what needs to stop, and where we need to grow.
Something I’ve noticed when pruning the fig tree is that following the cutting back of a branch, life-giving sap immediately rushes to the surface to heal the wound. As it is with our physical bodies when we accidentally cut ourselves and the blood rushes to the surface to heal, so it is with our spiritual hearts: where pruning in our life take place, the Spirit of the LORD rushes in to bind up that wound, and begin the healing process.
But the life, the most important part of a plant is in its roots. Roots supply life-giving moisture, vitamins, and minerals without which the plant would die. Our own root system determines the health of our souls and the health of our spirits, which in turn determines the health of our lives. Not our physical lives per se, but the quality, truth, and satisfaction of our lives. The capital ‘L’ Life of us. Rooting ourselves in the LORD is never a mistake. He nourishes us with living water. The very essence of Himself.
The final lesson I’ll share with you is the story of another plant, the only surviving plant that was part of a planter given to my husband and I at the birth of our first son. For over twenty years, I called it the “unplant”, because it wouldn’t grow and it wouldn’t die – it just kind of was. Then, a couple of years ago I placed it beside the fig tree and voilà! In two years, it’s grown more than it did in the first twenty-two. It just needed community.
The best communities help each other grow, flourish, and become themselves in all the fullness of who God created them to be. I hope you have one.
This year I was attracted to a peacock ornament, which now makes its home perched on the branches of the fig tree. Can’t wait to see what the LORD will teach me about that!
(My) Life is God.
“He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in season, and its leaf does not wither.” Psalm 1:3 (ESV)
“He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” Jer 17:8 (ESV)