A Mango Tree

When we first shifted to the address we are in now in DLF 1 ten years ago, we sowed two mango seeds on our front lawn. The two seeds grew to become a tree in few years time. One of the trees was uprooted during a rainy season. The other stood tall and kept growing. This year it began to blossom and ultimately bore fruits abundantly.

The tree is as young as my first daughter. It was sown in the same years when she was born. Somehow she got a mysterious connection with the mango tree. When it began to blossom and bore fruits, my family members were so excited. Because it is the first fruit tree that bore fruits that we can hope to partake of. Even my wife connects this to our spiritual condition in the church in Gurugram. We have not been bearing solid fruits for many years. Perhaps, this tree is a sign of our beginning to bear fruits after many years. Well, may or may not be. Only God knows. Definitely, we can learn from nature that if any living things grow normally it should bear fruit in due time. So it should be the same with our spiritual life.

When a sandstorm struck our city at the beginning of this month, the mango tree could not stand the test of time: Strom and heavy rain just blew the tree from its trunk and the two main branched that bore many fruits succumb to the merciless blows and lashes of the hurricane. And alas, all the lovely mangos with its branches dropped dead on our empty lawn. So sad... My daughter who has an emotional connection with the tree could not help but weep for days... 

In fact, I was sent photos of the blown off branches when I was on my way back home from my recent training tour to Pune. The first thought that struck me was: Do not be superstitious. Because my wife had one time prophesied in the meeting, symbolically connecting the mango tree with the bearing of spiritual fruits henceforth. The Lord's speaking to me was not to give heed to a human natural interpretation of things. Its prone to be error-laden at best, and the devil could as well inject his poisonous thoughts with the natural incidents at worst; tempting us to not believe in the Lord's promises and deeds. 

Bearing fruits is by spiritual laws; it is of the Lord's blessings and also according to spiritual growth. Though analogy can be drawn from natural laws, the two does not fully conform to one another. What applies to the natural may or may not apply to the spiritual, nor vice versa. One should never allow natural incidents to necessary match with the spiritual one.

Despite the mango tree incident, we still continue to pray and labor in gospel preaching for the increase of the church in Gurugram. Mango tree or no tree, the gospel must be preached and bring in much increase for the church.