A Tree with No Fruit?

Jesus, help me to be content with the work you have placed in my life to do.  Guide my mind, my heart, and my feet because I can not seem to do it on my own.  Help me to love more fully, help me to love despite my many faults, help others to see my faults not as a lack of love for you or an excuse to sin, but a testament to your Mercy and Your Love for me and for them. Help me to embrace every element of hardship in this calling to motherhood as a way of growing closer to you.  When I feel discouraged please lift me up, so my human frailty does not get in the way of your plans for my life. Amen.

Reading 1 1 Pt 4:7-13

Beloved:
The end of all things is at hand.
Therefore be serious and sober-minded
so that you will be able to pray.
Above all, let your love for one another be intense,
because love covers a multitude of sins.
Be hospitable to one another without complaining.
As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another
as good stewards of God's varied grace.
Whoever preaches, let it be with the words of God;
whoever serves, let it be with the strength that God supplies,
so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ,
to whom belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Beloved, do not be surprised that a trial by fire is occurring among you,
as if something strange were happening to you.
But rejoice to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ,
so that when his glory is revealed
you may also rejoice exultantly.

Gospel Mk 11:11-26

Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple area.
He looked around at everything and, since it was already late,
went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

The next day as they were leaving Bethany he was hungry.
Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf,
he went over to see if he could find anything on it.
When he reached it he found nothing but leaves;
it was not the time for figs.
And he said to it in reply, "May no one ever eat of your fruit again!"
And his disciples heard it.

They came to Jerusalem,
and on entering the temple area
he began to drive out those selling and buying there.
He overturned the tables of the money changers
and the seats of those who were selling doves.
He did not permit anyone to carry anything through the temple area.
Then he taught them saying, "Is it not written:

My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples?
But you have made it a den of thieves."

The chief priests and the scribes came to hear of it
and were seeking a way to put him to death,
yet they feared him
because the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching.
When evening came, they went out of the city.

Early in the morning, as they were walking along,
they saw the fig tree withered to its roots.
Peter remembered and said to him, "Rabbi, look!
The fig tree that you cursed has withered."
Jesus said to them in reply, "Have faith in God.
Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain,
'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,'
and does not doubt in his heart
but believes that what he says will happen,
it shall be done for him.
Therefore I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer,
believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours.
When you stand to pray,
forgive anyone against whom you have a grievance,
so that your heavenly Father may in turn
forgive you your transgressions.'

Sometimes, as a mom, I worry that I am not bearing fruit for the Kingdom of God because there are no visible, measurable, fruits of the work that I do.  Sure, I know there should be in the end...but in this fast world I feel like the fig tree in the Gospel.  I have leaves, the kids and I are all growing, but that's about all that can be seen.  The Gospel reading taken with the first reading, though, gives me hope.  If I continue to serve with the strength of God, despite my many faults, if I love those God has placed in my life with all the gifts God has given me for His Glory, His Good works will be completed through me.  I have nothing to fear.  I will not wither like the fig tree.  I just need to continue serving, praying for God's strength each and every day, and knowing that the fruit God wishes to see from me will come in time.  I also think it's interesting to think about this in terms of the righteous indignation Jesus had about those buying and selling in the temple area.  I am always worried that my work is not monetarily productive because, in our culture, that is the visible fruit of hard work. This scripture helps me think of my home as a temple, and my work as a prayer, when I begin to worry about money and proofs of my hard work it is almost an offense against my vocation. 

(I must add a disclaimer, this is for me, at this time in my life, my kids are 4, 2, and 1, and I am in a place in my spiritual life where God wants me to see this.  It may not be true for every mom, even with young children, but constant prayer and reflection are necessary for every situation.)   

Jesus, you will complete every good work that you have begun, help every Mom to see her work as a prayer. Amen