Hello Friends
I recently read this parable (which I have read many times before) and yet for the first time, I was struck by the phrase to dig and fertilize. Jesus was talking about a fig tree which was not producing fruit, and the owner told the worker to cut it down. The worker said that he would dig and fertilize it for a year and give it a chance to fruit before it was removed. This got me pondering what it means to fertilize - both our lives and the lives of our children.
Before applying fertilizer to a vegetable garden, the soil is dug over. This digging breaks up hard lumps and reduces the soil to a fine texture. Fertilizer is spread and is then dug into the soil and given a good watering. Fertilizer can be smelly, but it increases the health of plants and the quality and quantity of the fruit.
If we apply this to our lives, and the lives of our children, we understand that we need to dig into the soil of our hearts. We all have hard places that require softening and lumps that need to be made fine and soft. This process of digging can be tough. Have you ever tried to dig over a garden where the soil was hard? It will give you sore muscles and a tired body. It takes effort and persistence and may need to be done a few times to get the soil to the condition we need before we can apply fertilizer.
Do we spend time looking into the hearts of our children, or do we ignore the hardness and lumps and hope that as they age, they will “grow out of it”? It takes effort and dedication on our part to sift the soil of our children’s hearts. There is no easy quick fix. We will get our muscles stretched by the hard work. It requires effort. We cannot tell our children (or ourselves), just stop doing this or that or just do this or that. We need to train our hearts and minds to choose to do what is right and what pleases God.
I do believe the best fertilizer we can use is God’s Word. Read it yourself, read it to your children, put verses on the back of the toilet door, memorize verses together. Start small and build up. When you are correcting your children, discuss how God’s Word applies to that situation. Memorize that verse with them and say it every day for that week.
As our children see us becoming more Godly and more loving, more self-controlled and more kind, more disciplined and more righteous, we are giving them the best example we can. When we humble ourselves, acknowledge when we are wrong, seek forgiveness, and repent and change, we are showing them the way. No amount of talking can do this better.
As you find areas in your lives to dig and fertilize this week, be encouraged to continue and to be faithful, whatever effort is required.
Wishing you a wonderful week.
Until next time
Ruth