As we walked back from the primary school, talking and chuckling at the fact that we were conversing in Spanish, we heard the cheery voice, "Buenas dias, hermanas" from up ahead of us. After looking around we saw hermano Manuel sitting on the edge of the raod, in the shade of a large fragrant tree. He had come to enjoy the sunshine of a beautiful morning, and he had come to find peace. "Ah, hermano, tu estas como Natanael!" I said as we passed on, leaving him with a smile on his face.
Later the same day, but cooked up to a roasting heat, I stood by the dormitory, waiting to get the church key from one of our team members. As I felt the sweat beginning to trickle down my back, I heard myself saying, "I shall wait under the mango tree" and in that moment, as the perfume from the blossoms surrounded me, I thought again of Nathaniel and the fig tree and Manuel on the side of the road.
Micah 4:4 reads "But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken it."
It seems then that the fig tree is more than a symbol of peace, more than a symbol of God's abundance, and more even than a symbol of contentment. Under the fig tree is a place of searching and spiritual revival and reconnection with God.
Even now as I sit between two rocks, a pine against my back, a good half-hour walk from IBC, I read these words and find comfort. I came here for refreshment, for peace, for the filling of a longing deep down. I have been waiting all week to find it, and now, my books on my lap, I have found it as I look out across the mountains of Honduras, at the edge of a valley, under a tree.
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