My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? …James 3:12 (NIV)
I think I want to be a fig tree.
Okay, so maybe I want my life to be like a fig tree’s life.
As an ancient fruit, it was probably the first cultivated, but it is unusual in it’s growth and producing of fruit.
They don’t really depend on the soil they are planted in-or their surrounding landscape as much as water. It’s roots are aggressive, deep and seek out the nourishment of water that is clean and fresh. The water travels throughout the tree and helps it provide cooling shade and shelter for those in intense heat.
While it grows and blooms, its flowers are protected.
The smooth fleshy fruit houses the flowers inside of it instead of on the outside. No one sees them. I have always wondered about the texture of a fig, and now I realize its fruit are the little bitty bulbs on the end of the stems inside of the fruit. The rest was just the preparation.
Can you see where I am going with this?
I want to live like a fig tree.
I don’t want to depend on drawing from all that is around me, but I want to have aggressive spiritual roots that seek out clear, clean, refreshing waters from God’s fountains. I want that water to course through me and allow me to be a cooling, restful place for others who are living in stressed environments .
I want to be fed so I bloom, but I really don’t have to bloom to show others, I want God to know I am blooming and He be the one who grows the fruit of my life so it may nourish others.
I want to bear fruit.
Yes.
I want to live like a fig tree.