Job 14:7 – For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its tender shoots will not cease. (NKJV)

Luke 6:43 -No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. (NIV)

Our fig tree started from a small sprout when our home was new. It grew with our yard, our children, and our lives. By the time the children were old enough to pick figs, the tree was an enormous size.

We preserved figs for the family, for gifts, and for sharing with our friends. We had a huge stepladder we used to gather the figs from the high branches. No matter how we stretched, we could never get all the fruit from the centre of the top of the tree. These we shared with the birds and bees.

One winter, the temperature dropped to 14 degrees Fahrenheit, which is extreme for our area. It killed the fig tree. It was like losing a member of the family, as we sawed the tree trunk level with the ground.

Then came the miracle. Next spring, new sprouts sprang up around the root. Each year the new sprouts went through their cycle of growth. One year we noticed a few figs. A few more came the next year and the new growth began to shape itself into a tree again.

It is large enough once more to use the stepladder to pick the fruit. Last year we had to share those in the middle of the top with the birds and bees because we could not reach them.

Just as the fig tree found new life from good roots, we can build a new life from the old by sending our roots into the soil of God's grace and watering them with our prayers. God will help us grow a new beginning. A life that once seemed dead can be renewed and made productive again.

Prayer: God, we thank you for new beginnings in our lives. Even when we, like the fig tree, seem to be finished, you give us a second chance to live again. Amen.

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