“Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.”
Luke 13:8,9
(watercolor painted between 1886 and 1894)
We’ve all been there at some point in life… looking for an extension… for more time to sort things out… to get it right. The world can be an unforgiving place. Even God can seem unrelenting at times. “Cut the tree down and let’s move on with it,” the owner of the vineyard tells the gardener after seeing three years go by without finding any fruit on the tree.
But the gardener knows his stuff. He sees something in the tree. He sees possibilities, distant though they may be. And he makes intercession: “Don’t cut it down just yet, sir. Allow me to take care of it, to dig around it and fertilize it. You might be surprised at what happens. It might yet bear fruit. Give it another chance, good sir.”
And how did the owner of the vineyard respond? We don’t know for sure; his answer is not explicitly given. My best guess, however, is that he said something along these lines: “All right, then. Go ahead. Give it another year.”
Thoughts like these were passing through my mind a few days ago as I swam the backstroke in the pool at my neighborhood YMCA. Staring up at the roof above the indoor pool, I found myself saying aloud, “Thank you, God, for bearing with me and giving me another chance. Thank you for your patience and mercy.”
You see, I have my own story of a tree that did not bear fruit.
Thirty-five years ago, a story idea came to me called The Search. I wrote about the project in last month’s newsletter. You may recall that the film is based on the parable of the Prodigal Son with the key difference being that the older brother leaves the family farm to go in search of his younger brother who has lost his way in the world. From the beginning, I have felt The Search was meant to be filmed in France in French. The years passed, however; the decades passed! No film. No fruit on the tree. Nothing more, it seemed, than a well-intentioned idea. And yet, by God’s grace, the “tree” was not cut down or thrown into the fire.
And now, the rain has begun to fall.
A small group of visionary donors have made it possible to begin development work on The Search. I have just arrived in Paris to work with two French screenwriters on the French version of the script, followed by several more weeks in France scouting shooting locations and meeting potential actors and crew members.
Merci, mon Dieu!
To think that the tree in the New Testament story was given a year’s extension to produce fruit, and I have been given thirty-five years (and counting) to produce some early buds on the vine! “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” wrote the Apostle Paul in Romans 11:33. “How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”
Oh, dear friend. Don’t give up on your dreams. God has his loving eye on you and wants to guide you in the way you should go (Psalm 32:8). Please give some thought to doing things his way. He is the Master Gardener after all, tending to you in ways you don’t see, creating the perfect conditions for new fruit to grow in your life. Look at you! You may have thought you had missed the boat altogether—not unlike me, perhaps. But I’m here to tell you that all things are possible with God who is more than able to work all things together for good in our lives (Romans 8:28).
I look forward to sending you updates along the way as new adventures commence with The Search. And if you would like to be one of our visionary donors, or an investor in our L3C being set up for the film, please let me know.
Dieu vous bénisse,
