Pluck and Plant

So I wrote this and submitted it to the Ensign, but it is pretty near impossible to be published in the Ensign, so I will post it here because it is near and dear to my heart!

As my dad lay in the back room dying, several of us sat in the living room.  The mood was solemn at best. Trying to wrap our minds around what was happening, the oldest son-in-law, began to tell us of a conversation he had had several years ago with my dad.  As he recounted it, my dad said something to this effect, “My dad was a very selfish man.  I’ve had to fight the impulse to be selfish my entire life.”  Apparently, he won the battle, because selfish was one thing my dad was not. 

The Allegory of the Olive Tree has never held many “great awakenings” for my life.  However, it began to come alive as I placed it in the framework of this solitary piece of information just given to me by my brother-in-law. 

In verses 6 and 7 of Jacob 5, the Lord is displeased to find that the “main top” is decaying.  After endless pruning, digging, and nurturing, these older branches that he has diligently tried to mold into something beautiful, have begun to decay.  These branches were also becoming hurtful to the “young and tender” branches starting to grow, but only in the shadow of the top.  So the instruction comes from the Lord of the vineyard:  PLUCK OFF THE DECAYING BRANCHES AND BURN THEM.  In His wisdom, He could see the devastating effect those top branches could have on the young and tender shoots. 

This is where my great awakening occurred.  In most families, there are both good and bad traditions.  Bad traditions typify the decaying branches and weaken our faith.  Let’s imagine for a moment that the “main top” branches were the traditions of our progenitors, people that the Lord had helped and taught and trained, who now had children of their own.  This being the case, perhaps the Lord’s dramatic actions of “Pluck and Burn,” tell us just how much of an impact the Lord thought a parent could have upon the faith of a child.  For the good or the bad.

My awakening continued.  In verse 8, the Lord’s second plan is revealed.  He will take away many of the young and tender branches and plant them somewhere else.  I wondered at this plan.  Could a branch, recently removed from the tree that produced it, have the ability to survive, let alone thrive, somewhere else?  But far before this particular “Jacob 5 Olive Tree” ever lived, the Lord had provided for this as well.  A single branch had everything it needed to start over.  It could grow its own roots and eventually produce its own fruit.  Good Fruit!  The Lord would provide the pruning, digging, and nurturing.  In the end, nobody ever had to know that once upon a time, decaying branches blocked it’s view of the heavenly sky. 

The dad I knew let himself be plucked from the tree and planted somewhere else. Of course he remembered former days, but he fought hard for the Divinity placed within him long before those days.  He sought out the Lord’s nurturing.  And in turn, when the Lord tried to prune and dig about his growing tree, he responded with an open mind and a willing heart.  And in the end, I know that he and the Lord were pleased with the fruit that had been produced. 

A long time ago I had a high-school friend.  His upbringing was traumatic, and he had few places to look for a good example.  At the event of our graduation, he said to my dad, “Not bad for a kid with my background.”  I distinctly remember my dad’s response.  “That way of thinking will only work for so long, you have to create your own life now.”  Speaking from experience, he was really telling my friend that it was time to pluck, plant, and grow fruit - GOOD FRUIT! 

Through the example of my Dad I have learned that when we finally decide to leave behind false traditions that weaken our faith, the Lord will provide means for our faith to blossom.