Tend The Tree

“Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.” (Pr 27:18 AV)

Keeping a fig tree is no easy task.  The nature of these trees requires constant attention.  They have a shallow root system so frequent watering is a must.  They must be fertilized with one pound of fertilizer for each foot of growth or each year of life.  They do not survive in tightly compacted soil, so keeping the ground broken up and loose around the tree is imperative.  They must be planted twenty feet apart.  If the caretaker has an orchard, that is a lot of ground to cover.  Most fig trees are begun as sucker trees.  That means a shoot is grafted into an adult tree until the shoot begins to develop its own root system.  Fig trees do not like the cold nor can they tolerate frost.  If not planted in a tepid climate, they need to be in a portable container and brought in before the cold sets in.  In other words, the servant who is caring for the fig tree above is doing so daily.  At the very least, he is watering it.  He must mulch it regularly.  There wouldn’t be a day that goes by that the servant does not tend to the needs of the fig tree.  The promise is guaranteed fruit according to one’s labor.  This is the point here.  If we want to receive blessings from our Master, it would be best if we labored much for Him.

There is much that demands our time.  Our jobs, our families, and ourselves.  We are high maintenance.  There are a lot of things that demand our time.  We are spread thin.  It is hard to do one more thing.  As a consequence, unrealized blessings are waiting for us that go wasted because we simply do not have the time or energy to serve the LORD.  The other day, I remarked that in today’s churches, we hire staff to do what we once did ourselves.  There used to be a day when families signed up to clean the church.  We would each take a weekend and vacuum, dust, and polish.  Today, we have to hire janitors.  We used to visit one another and care for one another.  Now, we have to hire a pastoral staff to love on others.  It used to be we would minister to our own teens through the family.  Now?  We hire an assistant pastor who often performs the duty of a parent.  We have delegated the responsibility of serving the LORD to hirelings and as a result, we lose out on the blessings God has for us.  The fig tree simply takes more time than we can dedicate.  It takes energy best exerted for our own interests.  We simply cannot put aside time to take care of it.  What we do not have, we will not miss.  If we never knew the taste of figs, it is no big deal if we ever do.

Solomon promises his children if they diligently serve God, eventually, there will be sweet blessings that follow.  The investment is always on the front end.  Eventually, there will come a time when the blessings of God will shower down from heaven.  We will rejoice because it was through our efforts someone came to Christ.  We will take pride in the building we helped to clean.  If we spend time with our teens and invite others to our house, our teens understand someone loves them not because they are paid to, but because they choose to.  There are so many things we could do for the LORD but we have abdicated this privilege to others because we simply do not have the time.  I like figs.  In fact, I love figs.  They are very delicious.  Fig Newtons are my favorite cookie.  But someone took an awful lot of time that I might enjoy that fruit.  How sweeter would it be if I did it all myself?