EquippedMama

Written by Eileen Lopez

It looks pretty dead to the casual observer, but is it really dead? It is winter in my part of the world right now. The days are cold, and the nights are often colder. Recently we had several days of freezing temperatures that had a negative effect on many of the outdoor plants. Plants that used to look green and full of leaves now look bare and frankly – dead. In particular, I have a rather large fig tree in my backyard that doesn’t seem to have any life at all. It has no leaves, no figs, and it seems to have no life.
My life has often looked a great deal like my fig tree. Days filled with going to work and coming home, caring for my children, cooking meals, cleaning a dirty house, washing dishes and doing yet another load of laundry. Those days truly look tedious, mundane, repetitive, and useless. The pressing question in the back of my mind has been, “Will my life ever bare any fruit?”

This reminded me of when Jesus walked up to a fig tree and was disappointed because it didn’t have any fruit. Mark 11:13 – Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

Season – that word caught my attention. “…it was not the season for figs.” A fig tree has seasons. There is the season for the tree to grow beautiful green leaves. Those leaves start out as small buds, then cute little baby leaves, and after a time, the leaves are large, lobed, and fragrant. Next comes the season for fruit to grow and ripen. Once again, the fruit begins as very small buds all over the tree. It takes water, sun, nourishment, and time for those tiny buds to get larger, fatter, and juicier until the fruit is ripe and ready to eat. Inevitably though the fig tree, like many other fruit trees, will come to the season of rest and seeming inactivity. No beautiful leaves, no juicy fruit, nothing gorgeous for the eye to behold. Why does the bare season have to come? Why can’t the tree look lush all year long? Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived had something to say about that. Ecclesiastes 3:1 – There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—

To an unsuspecting observer, it may seem that the fig tree is dead, but under the surface, there are important things happening. First, it needs time to rest. Putting out beautiful leaves and luscious fruit is hard work for a fruit tree. That kind of effort must give way to a season of rest. In addition, there is repair and renewal that happens during the winter season. If the leaves picked up a disease or pests during the growing season, those disappear when the leaves fall. Above all, during the winter, the root system is extending even further underground to prepare for the next season of growth. Yes, there is a time, a season, for every event in the life of a fig tree.

Could it be that I am in a season that doesn’t seem to be bearing fruit? Or could it be that God is carefully working under the surface to rebuild, restore, and extend my roots? I am reminded of what Psalm 1:2 and 3 teach about fruit and prosperity. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers. This is the season when I need to extend my spiritual roots by meditating and delighting in His Word. I want to be very mindful to use my “winter” to go deep with God and His Word so that fruit and prosperity appear in the right season. During the winter season my fig tree may look dead, but it is not dead at all and neither are we.

Eileen Lopez serves on the board of EquippedMama. She grew up in Houston with Argentinian parents and now has 5 grown kids and one granddaughter. She and her husband, Daniel, minister to the Hispanic community with various conferences and speaking opportunities. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, crocheting, and playing Pickleball.