Lessons from a Fig Tree
A few years back, a friend gave me a fig tree as a gift. She told me to plant it in a pot, put it in full sun and leave it outside all summer with regular watering. But, when it starts to get cold, I need to bring it inside. Fig trees are not particularly fond of the Midwest climate where I live so, about mid-October, when it starts to get down to freezing at night, I bring my tree inside.
When I pull it indoors, the tree is still full of leaves; gorgeous and green. However, after about a week inside away from the sun, the leaves start to turn brown and fall off. I was told that I needed to put my plant in a dark, cool spot for the winter, so it hangs out in a closet with no windows during that time. At this point in the season, all of the leaves have fallen off and it’s bare branches make it look dead. I water it about once a week, but otherwise it sits alone in the dark.
But, in mid-March, a beautiful thing begins to happen. The tree, resting in the dark all alone, starts to produce leaves. One morning, I will be walking by and small, little green sprouts will start to appear on the tips of the branches. It continues to sprout leaves and about a month later, it makes its appearance outside again. A few months after that, I get a harvest of figs.
I love the lesson I am reminded of every year when this happens. Are there times that we think we’ve got it all under control, things are buzzing along fine, and we see no need to change our pace and then - bam! - our life suddenly switches gears? We go from 100mph to 0 faster than we can blink.
We sit there stunned, wondering why this happened. We thought it was all going great and it was all under control! We were just like that fig tree in October, green and fully leafed out in all our glory.
But we didn’t know about the frost coming that could kill us. We didn’t know about the winter and that going at the pace we were going, we were bound to burn out.
This dark, cold winter we were placed in? Perhaps it’s a period of rest. It’s a time for us to take a deep breath from what we thought was our best life in order to be prepared for the good that is coming.
If the fig tree didn’t have it’s winter rest, safe in the dark room, it wouldn’t have the energy to produce those delicious figs come August. If you are in this season of waiting right now, how can you use it to build up your resources and to take an intentional rest?
And if you are in this period of Winter, take heart, Spring always comes.
Challenges/Points:
Rest can help restore the body, mind, and soul.
Sometimes when our life goes in a direction we weren’t anticipating, it’s actually a time for us to rest and restore and get ready for something better.
Be encouraged in the seasons of winter. They may seem long, but spring always comes.
Questions:
How can you use your seasons of rest to build up your resources and to take an intentional rest?
What part of the fig tree story resonated with you?
If you are in the summer season, green and vibrant, what can you do to assure that you are building in times of rest and restoration for yourself?
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