Pastor Lauren Colwell delivered the greatest children’s sermon I’ve ever heard this morning. I am a connoisseur of children’s sermons, so my praise is a big deal. I would repeat what Lauren said, but she talked about what it is like to work with Pastor Melanie Vaughn-West at Oakhurst Baptist Church. If you do not know and love Lauren and Melanie, some of what impressed me the most might sound silly or mean to you, but I can tell you what Lauren said about part of the Bible that made me understand myself and God better than I did before.

The story of Jesus about a man who wanted to cut down a fig tree is told in Luke 13:6-9. The man checked on the fig tree every year for three years in a row and never found any figs, so he told the gardener to cut it down and quit wasting space on a fig tree that never did what it was supposed to do. I am just like that man. If something I own doesn’t work, I want a new one that does. If someone I know doesn’t do what they are supposed to do, I want to replace them with someone who does. That’s me. And a lot of people are just like me.

The gardener in Jesus’ story was different. The gardener refused to destroy the tree. He said, “Give it another year. I will give the tree special attention and the resources it needs to grow figs. Maybe next year the tree will do what it is supposed to do. Maybe next year we will get a chance to eat sweet, sweet figs. You can always cut the tree down next year if it doesn’t.”

God is the gardener in Jesus’s story. God does not lose patience with us. God gives us special attention and the resources we need to grow and do wonderful things. We should be more willing to fix broken things. We should be kinder and more patient with broken people. God tells us to give love a chance to make things right.