Luke 13:1-9
How do we know if we are bearing fruit for God? How do we know if what we do is worth doing? In this parable, Jesus tells of a man who found no fruit on his fig tree for three years. The man felt he should cut it down because it was of no value. The gardener told him to lovingly tend to it for one more year...
Give it another chance....
On this road we are traveling during Lent, we might need to go back and re-do our Driver's Test. Remember that? When was the last time you took a driver's test? The last time I took one was almost 30 years ago! Goodness knows I probably don't know half the rules of the road, and yet I am out on it every day anyway.
A little refresher course wouldn't hurt. Teaching at teenager to drive has been good for me. I learned, through Jake's instruction, things that I had forgotten or never knew. Some lessons Jake taught me I am quite sure I never learned! It is a good refresher for me!
So how do we stop and test ourselves along the way? When we feel like what we are doing is fruitless and will never be of value, perhaps we should stop, re-evaluate, test our assumptions and give it another chance. We need to be patient and loving with this journey we are on. We need to be grace-filled in the middle of the long and winding road. We need to give it all a chance to redeem itself.
The road has an end point. How we get there is up to us. We can plow headlong into it without a thought and without listening for the still small voice. Or we can pause, take a little driver's test, nurture our growth process a little and maybe learn something new in the process.
Thoughts? Email me or comment below.
So incredibly true, Pam. The need to stop and look up and see where we are and what we might change. Having the opportunity to "teach" and "learn" as our teens take to the road is an amazing opportunity for us to learn what maybe we never knew... and refresh what maybe we've forgotten. I mean, periodically I even need to remind myself to breathe deeply and just be. THAT seems like it ought to be "second nature." If "how to breathe" can be forgotten, what else am I missing? Looking forward to Sunday already.
ReplyDeleteEvery day is a test to see how we look at our world and how we analyze it. I guess I have missed lots of things as I have moved on down the road and now I am doing that alone with only pets to talk to. I talk with friends, but don't always hear what I think I want to hear. I want to share my little world with someone, not a husband type, but a friend type. I have forgotten how to share with a man person in my life and maybe that is a big void in my life. Don'tknow if that can be fixed in this lifetime.
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