One pretty consistent piece of spiritual wisdom from our faith tradition, shared by other faith traditions, is that the most fertile soil for spiritual growth is suffering. That is to say, the poop in our lives and in the world can result in sacred fruit.
And there’s a lot of poop.
We don’t have to look far to find it...
The alchemy of just how God can use suffering and hardship to bring to bear fruits of the divine is a mystery. It is a gift of grace. A gift of love. And this miracle has taken place, is taking place and will take place over and over again, in small ways and in large-scale ways.
One of the questions that I hear for us today in this parable of the fig tree, is: what is God’s prayer for the fruit we are to bear in this time and place?
(Sermon begins at 31:07)
