Cameron Dewhitt Album Artwork

Fig Tree

God does some offensive things sometimes. Take these delicious figs, for example. The only way they can be pollinated is by a wasp, who squeezes inside through the hole in the top – breaking off her wings in the process – lays eggs in some of the flowers (which are inside the fig), pollinates the rest of them, and then dies. Her body is consumed by the fig, and the fig is consumed by us, after the new generation of wasps has hatched and escaped the fig to continue the cycle. How interesting! How bizarre! Something that upon first sight strikes most of us as disgusting, creepy, and definitely a sign that that fruit is not fit for consumption, is actually the way God has chosen to provide for these two organisms, and in turn, to provide for us. It’s another witness to the fact that God works in us in ways we would not predict, and in ways which may strike us as painful or offensive at first. But if we remain in his love we can have faith that, unexpected as it may be, God will be faithful to bear good fruit in and through us.