Pearl Fryar http://www.pearlfryar.com/ was born in Clinton, North Carolina, to a sharecropper family. He worked as an engineer at a can factory in Bishopville, South Carolina until his retirement in 2006. Around 1988, he began trimming the evergreen plants around his yard into unusual shapes. In addition to the boxwood and yew found there originally, he began transplanting holly, fir, loblolly pine and other plants as they became available. His living sculptures are astounding feats of artistry and horticulture. Pearl Fryar and his garden are now internationally recognized and have been the subject of numerous newspaper and magazine articles, television shows, and even a documentary.
Even more incredible than what he created, is the story of its beginnings. Many of the plants in Pearl’s garden were rescued from the compost pile at local nurseries. With Pearl’s patience and skilled hands, these “throw aways” have thrived and have been transformed into wonderful abstract shapes. When he began working, the “experts” told him that he couldn’t do what he was trying to do with what he had. Ignoring the advice of these experts, he followed his dream. He said that he was determined to not let obstacles get in the way of what he was trying to do.
In our text, we are told the story of a gardener who worked for a landowner. One of the plants under his care, was a fig tree that was not bearing fruit. The owner came by expecting a return on his investment. Seeing no evidence that this fig tree was producing, he ordered the gardener to cut the tree down. However the gardner pleads for one more year. The owner had no idea that fig trees took at least three years to bear fruit, but the gardner knew. The gardner knew this and was unwilling to give up on the tree so that it could reach its potential.
Sitting in this congregation today are people who are not living up to our potential. Thank God for someone who is tending to us who is not willing to give up on us. Some would want to cut the unproductive trees down and cast them to the trash heap. God knows our potential and continues to work on us until He can get out of us what He knows is inside us.
Some have written themselves off just like that land owner wrote off that fig tree. God doesn’t look at us like that. God’s love, compassion and mercy overcomes all of that and saw something better than we or others see. Thank God for the Value of Someone Who Cares.
