MY NEIGHBOR’S GROWTH WITH ME AS HER GARDENER

“Jesus told the people 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.”’” Luke 13:6-9

Let’s consider ourselves as the Gardener in this Gospel story and let’s look around and discover who among the people we see are, in one way or another, the fruitless fruit trees – those not measuring up to our or someone else’s standard. Do we, like this gardener, feel empathy for such people?  Are we willing to invest a “year” of time, energy and resources in continuing our or someone else’s, thus far “unproductive” efforts?

The fig tree story is a reminder of the people around us who need our willingness to reach out to them and provide sustained nurturing – even lasting “for this year.” Who are they who are not measuring up to my or someone else’s “standard”? Are they the child, grandchild or neighbor who is not acting like others think he should, the co-worker who is not producing what the boss wants, the worker at the gas station, supermarket or beauty salon who doesn’t service me as well as I thought she should?

GOD SENDS HELP IN THE PERSON OF MOSES

What does God do when the Israelites are in need of liberation? God sends Moses. What is God doing now when someone is in need of liberation? God sends you and me.  God says, “Draw near and listen: You are standing on holy Ground.” God calls out to us as He did to Moses, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I am the God of your fathers.  I witness the affliction of my people. You can bring them out of this land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

 Just as needed as are our efforts in support of the people of Ukraine, so, too, are our efforts needed to alleviate the needs of those nearby. Yes, God is calling us, you and me, to see the afflicted, be the afflictions enslavement or that of not measuring up to someone’s standard. God is asking us to “cultivate the ground” around them that they may “bear fruit” maybe not now, but “in the future.”

Where is my help needed? Who are the afflicted people standing next to God and me on this holy Ground?

Sister Loretta