Two years ago, I bought two baby fruit trees.  One was a meyer lemon tree, and the other was an orange tree.  My plan was to plant them in large planters, take care of them so when they matured a bit more, I would transplant them into the ground after we had moved.  Now, I will be the first to admit that I have every other color of “thumb” but green…so this was an experiment for me.  For a long time both were doing great!

Up until this last summer that is… our drought summer!!  My lemon tree took a sudden turn for the worse!  It started drying up and the more I watered it, the worse it became.  I could not figure out why this was happening when my orange tree was doing so well!  I decided in an effort to save it (thinking by now that I was over watering it) I had Mike help me transplant it into the ground.  He found the culprit…small larvae of some kind were eating the roots!!  Argh!!!  The root ball was so small and sad, and my little lemon tree only had one green stalk with a few leaves on it.  I thought about chucking it and starting over, but I just couldn’t ignore the fact that there was still hope of life in this tree.  It looked extremely sick, but it was still alive!

It’s weird that I care so much for this lemon tree…but now it’s become a challenge for me to see if I can revive this plant!  I’m not giving up!  I’m fertilizing it, watching how much water it gets, pulling out weeds that try to plant themselves in it’s soil, and covering it at night when it’s cold.  It’s beginning to get very cold outside at night and my tree has only two leaves on it.  Yet, I still believe there is hope.  Don’t laugh at me when I tell you that every time I look out my window at my little tree, I pray God would touch it and restore it.  You’ll think I’m strange, but I’ve even gone outside to lay hands on it and pray!!  🙂  Our gardener told me he thinks it has a chance (I like our gardener…he’s a nice man)!! 🙂  This tree is special.

My little lemon tree.

My humongous hope.

I think it’s become more than just a lemon tree to me.  It’s a symbol.  Sometimes things may look hopeless, right?  Like yucky larvae, sometimes the enemy tries to eat up our roots!!!  But this tree reminds me to stand tall and to fight for promised fruit.  Those two leaves have literally been hanging on for 6 months or more!   I keep expecting them to fall off…but they still hang on!!  I’ve been waiting for answers to prayers for longer, and this little tree reminds me that good things are ahead!  If my lemon tree can do it, so can I!?!  I know God speaks to us in many different ways…could it be that he’s speaking to me through this little tree?  Encouraging me to hang on when I don’t see things happening around me?  

I’m just going to say it:  I believe this tree will bear fruit one day…and I can’t wait to blog about THAT!  But in the meantime, this is where my little tree and I are at…hoping and praying…and believing.

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for He who promised is faithful.”  Hebrews 10:23.