I love it when God speaks through secular artists.
The Pixies have some strange songs. One begins with the
lines,
“Meet me by the coppice stool
Before the sky takes back its jewels
Bring your life of memories
Before they sink into the seas.”
There were two or three interesting thoughts in here, but it
was the first line that spoke to me. “Meet me by the coppice stool.” What on
earth is a “coppice stool”?
Some years ago, Father really challenged me from the parable
of the fig tree in Luke 13:
"A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard,
and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. "Then he said to the
keeper of his vineyard, 'Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on
this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?'
"But he answered and said to him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until
I dig around it and fertilize it. 'And if it bears fruit, well. But if not,
after that you can cut it down.' " [Luke 13:6-9]
Honestly, the story scared me. Since he was talking about my
life, he was talking about cutting me down! What’s up with that? I was serving
Him as hard as I could!
(By the way, if you ever find yourself asking “why is there
so much crap going on in my life?” remember that manure was the fertilizer that
Jesus was speaking about digging into the life of the fig tree.)
I meditated on the parable, of course. Then one day, while I
was driving, I saw a piece of property where the owner had cut down some trees,
but the stump was sprouting again. Even the logs stacked next to the stump were
sprouting, and I realized, that must be how fig trees work.
So I googled it, and found it’s true: you can’t actually
kill a fig tree by cutting it down. When you cut a fig tree down, you give the
tree a fresh start, several fresh starts, actually. Because within several
months of cutting down the tree, you’ll have several new trees sprouting from
the same roots, surrounding the trunk. Instead of one old, slow-growing tree,
you’ll have several young, vigorously growing trees.
Coppiced trees. |
This method of extreme pruning is called “coppicing.” And
that dead stump, surrounded by live trees from the same roots, is called a “coppice
stool.” It’s a recognized forest management technique. “As coppiced trees already have a fully developed
root system, regrowth is rapid.” In fact, “trees which are periodically cut
tend to live longer.” (http://www.coppice.co.uk/)
So one reason that God may cut someone off at the roots is
to extend both the breadth and length of their ministry. Another reason may be
to bring back “the joy of my salvation” to saints that have grown weary or
complacent.
So if you’re feeling like God is cutting you down (or just
digging crap into your life), take heart: he’s preparing you for growth and
expansion.
1 comment:
Thank you so much! I have been asking the Lord why He has allowed me to experience so much pain & suffering. It also crossed my mind that maybe He had forgotten about me. I've been waiting for so long to get a breakthrough from Him & I'm in the brink of giving up. Your message about the fig tree encouraged me to hang in there - I believe my breakthrough's just right around the corner. We serve an awesome God!
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