“Stop overwatering me.”
The voice I heard was loud, clear, and imploring. It stopped me in my tracks. I stared at the young, struggling, wilting fig tree, amazed that it had spoken to me in answer to the question that I held in my heart, which was, “Why aren’t you taking root?” My daughter had planted it two months ago, and despite my deep waterings, in hopes that they would break up the dry desert ground around it, it was still struggling to stay alive.
As the fierce Arizona sun beat down on me, it was hard to believe that the fig tree would not want a good long drink. I sure did.
Reluctantly, I walked away and turned off the water, marveling at the fact (and simultaneously doubting) that the tree had actually spoken to me. Then I heard this:
“That which does not kill me, makes me stronger.” Now the fig tree was quoting Nietzche?
I smiled as the wisdom of those words slowly seeped into my stubborn brain: not watering the tree will make it stronger. My curiosity sent me to the internet where I read on www.figboss.com, that “drought stress” actually makes the tree stronger and its fruit more delicious.
Such as it is, I thought, when it seems God has disappeared. To survive, we must seek harder than ever (as we endure the spiritual drought) to find and root ourselves more deeply in God’s love, where we find greater strength, and ultimately bear fruit in our lives that is even more delicious.
