Friday!

Proverbs!

Those who tend a fig tree will eat its fruit, 

and those who look after their master will be honored.

Proverbs 27:18 CEB

At first glance this proverb is about working hard for someone else will bring reward. 

Sometime.

Eventually.

Our rule with Proverbs is that it's not a weapon to be used to get people to do stuff we want, so this is not about getting people to work hard. 

What if we step back and see the fig tree. 

It's a living thing that needs tending, care and protection for it's flourishing. 

And it will produce fruit that those tending it get to share. 

It's a picture of a system that works for everyone's good. 

What if our human systems had the same objective, were looking for the same outcomes of "everyone's good"?

The "master" here would be someone with power (& we all have power somewhere). Power is shared in the honouring. And if honouring is the equivalent of the fruit of the fig tree then it doesn't mean some nice words and an award, but a real sharing of the fruit of the system, the business, the whanau, the church, the organisation, it's an equalling, a levelling.

Perhaps today there's a new way to look at the "fig tree", the systems, where you have power, how we share, and Matariki is a great time to consider things in new ways & make new starts.

#proverbs

#wisdom

#somethingtochewon

#itsaheartthing