The lectionary gospel for today tells the story of the fig tree which for three years after it had been planted had produced no fruit, such that the owner told his gardener to cut it down. The gardener must have been a compassionate environmentalist as he responded in the following way: “Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future.” Instantly I had the image before me of a small plant that my family had bought in memory of my father. We had wanted a hydrangea bush and planted it in a place we thought it would thrive. For six years we waited for some sign of life. We should have known from the branches that were tightly entwined but very tree-like that it was not what we had ordered but this was many years ago and none of us was very savvy about the plant world.
One summer we had a volunteer groundskeeper who suggested moving the plant since it did not seem dead, just not thriving. She situated it in another part of the yard in a different kind of soil that got a different amount of sunlight each day. The next spring it produced leaves and shoots and let us know that she was, in fact, not a hydrangea at all but a beautiful hibiscus that only needed to be recognized and situated correctly in order to grow! I often bless the mistake of the salesperson who must have been new to the work or mixed up words beginning with the letter “H” because the result was better than we could have imagined.
Sometimes it does take a long time – even for people – to find their place and grow as we are all meant to do. It takes patience and nurturing perseverance to wait for the flowering. Would that we could always allow and encourage that in each other with no timeline in mind before we give up. There is only God’s time, i.e. the present moment for this kind of gardening.
Dawn is breaking. It is 13 degrees Fahrenheit outside and the snow continues to cover the land. The psalmist cries this morning, O Lord, hear my prayer and let my cry come to you. Spring is scheduled to arrive today at 12:15PM EDT – the moment when the sun is directly in line with the equator. “It’s hard to believe,” I say to myself, considering the lack of signs of spring. But then I think of the faith of the psalmist whose trust is in the willingness of God to hear the voice of those in distress. There’s lots of distress in the world today and I am drawn to question the faith quotient of those of us who now send out prayers for better times – myself, I mean.
There is an exhortation in the text from the Second Letter of Peter this morning that deserves notice and reflection. It is a progression of development that begins with faith and moves to the crowning achievement of the highest good: love. Each of the steps demands something deeper from us and each is supported by what we have learned in the previous inner opening. The beauty of the flowering is that it is, in the end, not just about our own growth but flows out into relatedness to all. I suggest reflection on each of these stepping stones of the soul, the cycle of which, it seems to me, can be revisited time after time for a tune-up. See what you think.
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 