Second Chances

And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree  but have found none.  So cut it down.  Why should it exhaust the soil?’  He said to him in reply, ‘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.  If not you can cut it down.’”   

This parable is about second chances. We all need them.  We mess up.  We ask for forgiveness and another chance to redeem ourselves – to regain trust, for example.  We are God’s gardeners, and God expects figs – the fruits.  God is patient.  But God does expect results, eventually.

We are also God’s trees that should bear that fruit.  “Please God, don’t cut us down!  Give us another chance.  We’re worth your fertilizer- your love.”

Forgive us our trespasses.  And God does even when we try to exhaust God’s patience.  “Hear our cry Lord: give us another year, or two, or three…Trust us.   You can trust us - really."

Deacon David Pierce