Figs

My mother-in-law tells the story of relocating to California as a young girl, moving to a new home and seeing a fig tree for the first time. The fruit was something her mother enjoyed, seemed to eat quite a few figs, but as a young lassie, she still declined to eat them. Her mom definitely liked figs, but she wasn’t interested herself – not in that shriveled up, ugly looking, odd shaped, dark thing. No thanks.

My mother-in-law avoided eating figs until she had surpassed the 6 - 0 mark. (She is now past the 7 - 5 mark and don’t tell her I told you or I may never reach my next birthday.) Then she tried her first. Amazingly, she liked them! And after all those years of not eating figs! Now she regrets all the missed opportunities to eat fresh figs right off of the tree. What a pity; what a shame.

You are thinking what I’m thinking, right? Come on now. I know you and I are headed in the same direction. Let me guess: Is there anything in life God has for you and I that we have (up until now) refused to taste? Will we later regret our tardy arrival on this leg of our Spirit-guided journey? What are we presently stubbornly resisting which later we will decide was a matchless blessing? Cumquat, anyone? Rutabaga?

Tim Gramly
Education Pastor
SHBC
March 3, 2009