At the end of the day, where do you put things that are in your pants pockets? Do you have one of those wooden oblong things that look like some of the wood is scooped out so your change can go into one indention and your keys in another? Or do you just throw it on top of the dresser? I happen to have a Don Pablo plastic kiddie cup that I throw all my pocket change and keys into at the end of the day. (Well, ok — I think there are some breath mints pieces of paper scraps and pens in this too!) I use this cup every night and take two quarters out of the cup every morning so I can buy my diet Pepsi here at the church during the workday. Why then am I surprised sometimes to not find two quarters on a particular day? I see the cup of change everyday. You’d think I would see from day to day what I do and don’t have. This is the way it is in some of my clothes drawers too! Or some of you might be cooking the evening meal and find you are out of something! Or you might find yourself out of paper clips in the office or have no exact change for your kids lunch money — you give it to them every day, why on earth are we surprised when your child comes to you with their hand out asking where their lunch money is!

I think this dynamic is what is happening to the tree owner in our parable. He has had this fig tree for a long time — he knows two of the last years have produced no fruit. I presume that he has tended to his fig tree in this third year, but we find in our story that, "one day the fig tree owner goes out to pick some figs, and he is surprised that there are no figs on the tree!" Now, he has seen this tree everyday, so why is he so surprised that it doesn’t have fruit on it? I guess human nature doesn’t change all that much from his time to ours!

After the fig tree owner’s surprise that he has no fruit, he proceeds to get angry and has an exchange with the gardener about cutting the tree down. But the gardener is ever the optimist and strikes a bargain with the owner to wait one more year. The gardener has a plan! Throw a little dung around the tree and take a little better care of it and maybe next year it will bear fruit!

Now have you ever felt like that tree before? Barren, dried, parched with little energy to grow. You keep sucking up the same old nutrient-free soil and everyone around you expects you to be wonderfully productive, creative, and bearing good fruit all the time! What is your work life like? Is it the same ol’ same ol’? Parents who stay at home and work — Do you think you might just let out a big "Arggg" if your kids fight about who got the most cheerios one more time? And what about your emotional spiritual life? Are you feeding off the same quick prayers you say all the time? Are you depressed or lonely or fearful?

The gardener has a plan — Fling a little dung in your life!

Now, I always get a little shaky talking about plants because I have the brownest thumb that one could ever have, but even I know that you have to have just he right balance of fertilizer to soil -- too little and you will produce and puny plant, too much manure and well, it stinks (and chokes or burns the plant).

Isn’t that the way it is with us too? Too much "dung" in our lives makes us overwhelmed and we start-a-stinkin. We stink at relationships because we are always tired and cranky, we stink at work because we get resentful of all that we have to do, we stink with our kids because we run out of patience and we stink at our spiritual life because we have noting left to give.

But, too little dung, and our lives are one big bore. Nothing new or exciting, no enrichment to stimulate us, no new ideas, less hope, less to give, less caring. That gardener knew the importance of good surroundings and environment and was determined to at least ask the tree owner for a second chance to help the tree bear good fruit. In the end the gardener gives the owner an if . . . then statement. If by next year it doesn’t bear fruit, then you can cut it down.

Second chances are such grace-filled events aren’t they? That burning and tightening in your chest was heartburn, not a heart attack; the lump was benign; the speeding ticket was just a warning; the pink slip was an invitation to a party not the ending of your job; the sister you haven’t spoken to in ten years has called you up; and the pop quiz you didn’t study for was postponed.

These events should change our behavior and ways of thinking for the rest of our lives, yet so many of us miss the opportunity for these second chances to impact our life. I have found myself saying . . . yes, I dodged the bullet on this last physical. I promise to start tomorrow on my exercise program! And of course tomorrow is crowded with many things, exercise not being one of them. The other day, I was very tired from a very long workweek and I said to the office staff — I am going to do something about my schedule — but not this week because I am already booked up! I laughed at myself! What do we do with our second chances?

I often wonder what the tree owner does in this parable after the gardener advocates for a second chance and I wonder what the gardener does in response to the tree owner. You see the parable leaves us hanging — the story doesn’t say that the tree owner did indeed give the gardener a second chance in caring for the tree, nor does the story tell us what the gardener actually does after he makes the statement, "Maybe it will have figs on it next year and if it doesn’t, you can have it cut down."

Nor does the story tell us that the tree did — did it bear fruit or not?? But don’t you think it is awesome to have someone who would be willing to advocate for you and to be willing to take the time out to nurture you and to help cultivate your spirit and potential. What do you think would have happened to the tree if the gardener wasn’t there from the very beginning? As one theologian puts it, " . . . every once in a while don’t we all think of the gardeners of our lives, who by their example and their words invited us to live in the abundance of the second chance, people who dug in around us and stayed with us and fertilized us with their love and encouragement and hope, so that we too might live. . . ." (William Kincaid, Lexington, KY).

Living in the abundance of the second chance means that you wont start tomorrow, but today. Living in the abundance of the second chance means that you can see that what looks like a failure might actually be a means to find new life or a chance to start fresh. Living in the abundance of the second chance takes your ordeal with a life threatening disease and brings meaning to all your struggles — maybe you found out that you were stronger than you thought you were or that your friends really did love you or that your family was brought closer by your ordeal or that God did give you strength or that you could now be a help to others going through treatment because you really know what it is like! Living in the abundance of the second chance means you will study more for your next test! Living in the abundance of the second chance helps you clear your calendar today not next week! Living in the abundance of the second chance gives you the opportunity to say, "I’m sorry" to the ones you have most hurt and for those people to work through the pain and say "I forgive you."

Living in the abundance of the second chance spurs you on to get involved with the Lamb Center or FISH or FACETS or the Children of Chernobyl because you know what life would be like without an advocate, without a gardener who is present with you and takes the risk of caring. Living in the abundance of the second chance makes you realize how important it is to support the children and youth of our church as teachers, shepherds, advisors, mulch helpers and mission supporters

Can you remember who your gardener was when you were growing up? Mrs. Brim, one of my Sunday school teachers, was a gardener and Patty Lee, the minister’s wife was my gardener. Teenagers, of all people, need those second chances — what an opportunity it is to be a gardener to one of the confirmands. Can you imagine what life would be like if we had no gardeners or second chances in our life?

Jesus is the ultimate giver of second chances. Jesus wants us to feel the empowerment of joy that only God’s grace can bestow. We have the choice today to engage in the abundance of the second chance. How will you respond?