The Olive Tree

Marcos and I were recently asked to teach the mission prep class in our stake.  For those who may not be familiar with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we have the opportunity to kind of train the young men and women considering serving a full-time 18-24 month mission for our church.

It was one of those callings that kind of caught us off guard (especially me), but within a very short period of time felt 100% right.    For whatever reason, we are meant to mentor this little group along at this specific moment in time.  And...I AM LOVING IT!!!

It sounds crazy because most of these kids are bigger than I am, but I feel like a mother duck with a flock of ducklings under my wing, ducklings eagerly following my awkward little waddle down to the pond.  They aren't newly hatched ducklings.  They are approaching adulthood.  And yet they still have a lot to learn, and we have been entrusted with their care.  We get to teach them the art of swimming - how to glide, how to paddle and when and where to make ripples that will continue forward and outward long after they have left the water.  It's an awesome yet humbling experience.

Yes I know they're geese, but you get the idea

We witnessed our first "mission call" moment yesterday.  One of our young women received her mission call last week.  She will be serving in Jamaica and leaves  in June.  I was so EXCITED when she told us about her call.  I may or may not have terrified her with my big mama bear embrace, but I COULD NOT help myself!  It was such a beautiful moment!!

We are learning all sorts of skills and covering all sorts of questions the kids have, but every week we leave a little bit of time for sharing thoughts, insights and experiences from the previous week.  It's probably my favorite part of class.  Yesterday, one of the boys from our class said he had been studying the allegory of the olive tree (Jacob 5), but that he read it differently this time as if the entire chapter was about him.  It was personal.  His words pierced my heart and I paused and reflected momentarily.  There were two scriptures I had been considering sharing and I still didn't know which direction I wanted to go with my comments.  Now I knew what I needed to say.  I silently thanked God for sending the Holy Ghost to direct me to the words best suited for our class that day.  I thought that was why his comment hit me differently.  I was wrong.

I knew I was close to that same chapter in my personal scripture studies, but I didn't realize that is the exact page I would turn to this morning.  I'd say it was a crazy coincidence, but the reality is that God is in the details of our lives.  It was a tender mercy, and I knew there was a reason I was reading the same chapter after a comment had been made in class yesterday.  The comment made by that young man echoed in my mind...
"It was about me.  It was personal."
As I started to read, an image of a beautiful olive tree took shape in my mind.

"...thus saith the Lord, I will liken thee...unto a tame olive-tree, which a man took and nourished in his vineyard..." (Jacob 5:3)

"And it came to pass that the master of the vineyard went forth and he saw that HIS OLIVE TREE BEGAN TO DECAY; and he said: I will prune it, and dig about it, and nourish it, that perhaps it may shoot forth young and tender branches, and it perish not."  (Jacob 5:4)

I started to cry.  This is MY story.  This is personal.  It is a story about me.  I am the olive tree that began to decay.  The reminder that Christ saw my decay, saw me wither and fail to produce fruit was a very powerful image for me.  The reminder that Christ came to prune and dig and nourish me when I started to decay brought tears to my eyes.    

"And it came to pass that after many days it began to put forth somewhat a little, young and tender branches; but behold, the MAIN TOP THEREOF BEGAN TO PERISH."  (v. 6)

Yes!  I remember that part too.  I began to perish.  For two years, I have struggled to thrive.  I barely survived.  I may have been alive, but I was definitely NOT living. 

"And it came to pass that the master of the vineyard saw it, and he said unto his servant:
IT GRIEVETH ME THAT I SHOULD LOSE THIS TREE...we will pluck off those main branches which are beginning to wither away and we will cast them into the fire that they may be burned." (v. 7)

More sobbing.  Christ DID NOT want to lose me.  And...there was definitely a need for a fire, to burn and destroy the dead and withering parts that were attempting to destroy my entire being.  Being pruned and burned is often a painful process.  But it was necessary.  

"And it came to pass that the servant of the Lord of the vineyard did according to the word of the Lord of the vineyard, and grafted in the branches of the wild olive-tree."  (v. 10)

"...It grieveth me that I should lose this tree; wherefore, THAT PERHAPS I MIGHT PRESERVE THE ROOTS THEREOF THAT THEY PERISH NOT, that I might preserve them unto myself, I have done this thing." (v. 11)

"Wherefore, go thy way; WATCH THE TREE, and NOURISH IT, according to my word."  (v. 12)

Oh my goodness.  Yes!  I was watched.  And I was nourished.  I was watched even when I didn't realize anyone was watching over me.  Even when I could not FEEL anyone looking out for me.  Even when the pain of the dead branches and the pruning made it impossible to see beyond myself.  I was watched and I was nourished.

"And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard looked and beheld the tree in the which the wild olive branches had been grafted; and IT HAD SPRUNG FORTH AND BEGUN TO BEAR FRUIT.  And HE BEHELD THAT IT WAS GOOD..." (v. 17)

Yep.  That's what's happening to me.  As the dead parts have been cast into the fire, the new tender branches that were grafted in are starting to take root.  I'm FINALLY starting to spring forth and bear fruit again.  I've been watched over.  I've been nourished.  And I am finally starting to bear fruit again like I used to before I began to decay.  I'm producing fruit again.  And the fruit I'm producing is good.  

"...Behold, the branches of the wild tree have taken hold of the moisture of the root thereof, that THE ROOT THEREOF HATH BROUGHT FORTH MUCH STRENGTH...Now, if we had not grafted in these branches, the TREE THEREOF WOULD HAVE PERISHED..." (v. 18)

The root hath brought forth much strength.  Yeah it has.  Another powerful reminder.  And a frightening thought.  Had this not happened, the tree thereof would have perished.  I was rescued from decay, from a state of withering and failing to produce fruit.  I was nourished and strengthened with digging, pruning and burning, with grafting and watering.  And if this hadn't happened...I would have PERISHED.  Quite literally.  I would have perished had I not been loved and nourished and taken care of by Christ and the angels on earth sent to help him save this dying tree.  And now...after a very long painful process, I am beginning to bring forth good fruit once again.  And who knows.  Maybe one day, I'll even be part of pruning and digging and helping to save another withering tree.