The Fig Tree

In the gospels there is a story Jesus tells of a fig tree.

In Luke 13, a man owns a fig tree and wants to cut it down because it hasn't born any fruit in three years.

But the vine dresser says, "Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure."

I remember coming home from a failed internship after my senior year in college. One of my spiritual mentors sent me this verse. I've held it close to my heart ever since.

It's interesting to me that Jesus points out the digging and the fertilizing, not the pruning. I believe it is because growth doesn't come first from the condition of the fig tree, but from the health of the soil it is planted in.

Jesus, our vine dresser, digs around us, laying on manure. There is something beautiful here, something Jesus believes about us. If you aren't bearing fruit, Jesus doesn't believe that you CAN'T, only that you HAVEN'T YET.

Dig in to the Layers of Life. Your soil matters.