The Little Fig – flourishing after the storm

Acrylic on canvas
91.5cm x 122cm

I started this painting after seeing the little fig standing all alone in the clearing on Fraser Island. All I could do was paint the grey framework of the tree at that point in time. Only now have I been able to finish it. It has taken me 5 years to get here.

I had a vision. Leaf by glorious leaf, in detail; bark and nodes and the beating heart swelling within the trunk of the tree – I saw it all. Behind is shimmering white – light; creamy and rich. There is gold pollen in the air. Music is playing. Something like a violin… but it’s angel voices… softly… sweetly…

The tree is basking in the glory. Surrounded by angelic song. Light is moving within and around it – and the stump of its ex-life-support is being consumed by the light! There is a whole new life ahead for this tree.

Around its base lie leaf skeletons. Only the texture remains of them. These are the old leaves shed in the time of intense stress. But their decay is feeding the tree with nutrients for life with renewed vigour and splendour inconceivable! God’s healing power exudes from the tree. It is living, breathing, miracles-in-progress… the power of resurrection is in progress!

The Little Fig is now flourishing. Despite the loss of its life-support-system, it has set its roots down deep to withstand the adversity of the season of loss and despair. It has survived the trauma, and then the fire, and is now flourishing, bearing colourful leaves and providing shelter and rest for a little Yellow Eastern Robin.

The little fellow with its fat, yellow chest often made me smile on some of the darkest days, as it flitted around my home. It looks so cheerful! One can’t help but smile at the brightest of yellow fluffy cuteness . So it found its place in the picture.

The mists of God’s presence are moving through the tree, and surrounding it, and joy is bubbling all around. The tree is singing God’s praise, and testifying to His goodness.

God’s ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 5:8,9). His plans and purposes for us are better than we could ask or imagine. This is my truth, and the song I’m singing, because He carried me and held me, and I survived! And, more than that, He enables me to flourish in a space that looks very different to what was before.

All I can say is Hallelujah!