Patience is hard. We want to change faster. We want other people to change faster. We get frustrated with our kids, our coworkers, our church, and with ourselves. Most of us have run out of patience with someone this week.
Jesus told a short story about a gardener who would not give up.
The fig tree
A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. For three years he came looking for figs on it, and found none.
So he told his gardener to cut it down. Why should it take up good ground?
But the gardener asked for one more chance. The Gospel of Luke, one of the four accounts of Jesus's life, records his answer.
And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it:
Luke 13:8 · King James VersionThe original Greek
ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς λέγει αὐτῷ· Κύριε, ἄφες αὐτὴν καὶ τοῦτο τὸ ἔτος, ἕως ὅτου σκάψω περὶ αὐτὴν καὶ βάλω κόπρια·
Found in Papyrus 75 (about AD 200), Codex Vaticanus (about AD 325), Codex Sinaiticus (about AD 350).
Let it alone one more year. I will dig around it and feed it with fertilizer. Then we will see.
The gardener waited, and he worked. He gave the tree what it needed to grow.
Patience that works
This is what patience looks like in Jesus's story: giving something that has not changed yet more time, and more care.
We all have places in our lives that have not borne fruit yet. Habits we cannot break. Prayers that have not been answered. People we love who are struggling. The gardener's patience gives us a picture of how to treat them, and how God treats us.
What it means for you
You can be patient with yourself. Growth takes seasons, not days.
You can be patient with others. The person who frustrates you may be a tree that needs one more year, and some care.
Here is one way to practice it today. If someone comes to mind that you have nearly given up on, do one kind, helpful thing for them, the way the gardener dug around the tree. Then give it time.
God is patient with you, and he keeps caring for you while you grow.