A Manic Monday Parable

Even though I am still out of the mainstream workaday world, I can honestly say that today was a bit of a manic Monday. I can add that the landscaping, shrubbery and rock beds around our house look better than they have in three springs since we moved into the house. Of course, to accomplish this, Alan (my younger son) and I worked for about five and a half hours straight non-stop. Pruning, trimming, raking, leaf vacuuming, bagging and chopping - all of which have taken their toll on aching muscles and an aging back. The end results, however, make it worth the pain and toil.

During our manic Monday yard work session, five shrubs are now completely gone and a couple dozen others are pruned and trimmed. By the end of the day, with the yard waste bin full and bags of leaves still sitting around from last fall, a couple of bushes escaped the trimmers or ax today. They are left for another day. One of them is a lilac bush which appears nearly dead, has sprouted very few leaves for the past two years and even fewer flowers.

The lilac bush in our backyard reminds me of Jesus' parable in the gospel according to Luke, chapter 13. A man had a fig tree in his yard and for three years he came looking for fruit on the tree. Every year, it produced the same result - no fruit! The owner of the fig tree then told the gardener who was taking care of his vineyard and trees to cut it down. In fact, the tree had been using up the soil and precious water without producing any fruit. This owner had given it a chance and it failed to produce.

Many of my former students and parishioners will remember hearing the definition of a parable as "an earthly story with a heavenly meaning". Unfortunately, some of my gay and non-gay readers will dismiss that definition and choose to think of this parable as a "nice story." However, the message of the parable relates to all of us, whether we are believers or not. Don't we all have something in our lives that takes up space, uses our resources and gets in the way of allowing us to be absolutely as productive as possible? You may or may not be like Bill and me with a tree in your backyard that hasn't brought forth fruit (or flowers in our case).

If I were leading a brainstorming session, we might come up with at least a starter list of things which prevent us from being as productive and successful as God intends us to be. Just to name a few we could include anger, frustration, resentments, bitterness, guilt, unhappiness, jealousy, fear, disappointment, pain and depression. As long as any of these feelings or states of mind is present in our lives, they have the ability at any given time to rise up and control the course of our thoughts and actions. Most of us are aware of the pious platitude to "Let go and let God." It sounds nice and easy but in reality is most often easier said than done.

There is no pigeon holing groups of people affected by these types of driving emotions. No casting off the curse to gay or straight people, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, or any specific ethnic group for that matter. Every one of us has to make a daily decision whether or not to allow one of these emotional states to detour the course of life. If not, I would encourage you to consider "laying the axe" so to speak to that which is preventing you from being the most productive individual possible. What kind of tree do you want to be? One that is vibrant, lively, full of life and productive? Or one that is stagnant, just existing and taking up resources with nothing to show for it?

~ DB Turnmire