FRUITFUL TO THE END

Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing. Psalm 92:13-14

For the first time in my life, I have a fig tree in my yard. It was already here when we moved into our current home five years ago, and to be honest, I was far more excited initially about its buddy, the orange tree growing nearby. I hated figs as a child and figured not much had changed. For the first few years, I was content to observe through my window as the bunnies and birds enjoyed the fruit. Finally, my curiosity got the better of me, and I sampled one. I wasn’t bowled over, but I wasn’t totally repulsed, either. In time, I’ve learned to really enjoy them, as well as to pass them on to my few fig-loving friends. I still allow the bunnies to munch on the really low branches, and the birds to indulge in the fruit on the branches too high for me to reach, an arrangement that seems to be agreeable to us all. 

In years past, our tree produced fruit in early summer and again in the fall. This year, the crazy thing seems to have become a little deranged. It began producing a crop in December (something Google tells me is rare) while simultaneously beginning to shed its browning leaves. So, my feathered and furry friends and I are devouring figs as long as they last. 

I’ve been waiting because I knew God had a lesson for me through my free-spirited tree, and it has come to me. I want to be like that fig tree. I’m not as young as I used to be and I can tell I’m beginning to slow down, whether I like it or not. While the fig tree is losing its foliage, my skin is losing its elasticity. The tree’s branches are becoming barer, and my muscles are becoming sparer. My tree is not as attractive as it was in its mid-summer prime (and you can fill in the correlation here!), and obviously it’s beginning to lose its mind a little…! The fig crop this December is not as spectacular as the one we had in June. But you know what, like my determined leafy friend, I’m determined to produce fruit until the end, God-willing!