“‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'” 

(Luke 13:7-9 ESV)

Life in the garden is always on the move, seen and unseen. Animals hide and sleep, seeds are sown and come to life, and caterpillars change into butterflies and deposit their eggs.

A text tells me that a member of church is in hospital about to give birth to new life with the prospective dad, and they will become parents for the first time. Life is always on the move towards its intended outcome. As I write a week later, I can share she has arrived safely home having given birth to a lovely healthy girl.

Earlier this year I visited the local mart, that sells plants, trees and flowers and I found a pear tree that was marked down at a third of its original price. It looked totally dead, hence the discount. I love a good bargain so, along with a healthy looking apple tree, I thought I would save it from destruction, as its relatively low cost was worth a risk. Akin to the advice above I dug a hole which was in a well watered part of the garden and added some plant food pellets as it was planted.

For several days I visited the pear tree to see if there were any signs of life; to which the answer was: none. Consequently I cut the top of the solitary upward spike. If there was to be any hope of life, the auxins (plant growth hormones) that had failed to promote growth at the apex, would be stimulated and redirected into the numerous brown nodules further down the stem. I decided to call in the vinedresser in this matter and so I prayed for Jesus to bring life into this small fruit tree.

Now some weeks later in the warmer weather I can see more than a dozen bundles of leaves just shooting out green on the stem up to half an inch long. Amazing. Hallelujah.

Sometimes out of our dead and dormant hearts God calls us to ask Him to bring life. Unseen to the world Jesus is calling us to pray for ourselves, our children and those we feel led to as we meet them because Jesus is in the practice of bringing new life where there seems to be no hope. He takes us on into eternity within the Kingdom.

Prayer:  Lord, in the midst of all the gloom, despair, poverty and war in contrast may we pray Your Life to show forth for the Kingdom of God in us and onwards through those around us, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Roderick Marshall