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FIGTREE  3'2m0f The parable of the figtree

ED --   And now, sit down, put your feet up, relax and listen to 
another edition of... Parables on Parade. Tonight's parable 
comes from Luke chapter 21 beginning at verse 29.                                                                     

He told them this parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the 
trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and 
know that summer is near."

FRED -- (open door) Do you know what we've never done on Parade 
of Parables?

ED --   Finished a parable without an interruption from you?

FRED -- I shall eschew that misbegotten attempt at humor, 
because what I have to contribute is far too momentous.

ED --   Judging from your new vocabulary, I'd say that you're 
taking an English class in night school.

FRED -- Wrongo, wrongo. I am taking a poetry class. And what 
we've never done on Parables on Parade is a poetic 
interpretation of a parable.

ED --   A fact for which our listeners will be eternally 
grateful.

FRED -- I shall ignore that lamentable attempt at derisive 
humor and share with our listeners a few original verses which I 
have composed for this very parable. See what you think: "I 
think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree.

ED --   Nice try, but that's not terribly original.

FRED -- It's not?

ED --   It's from a poem called "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer.

FRED -- She stole it from me!

ED --   Joyce is a man and he wrote it half a century ago.

FRED -- Oh. I thought it sounded familiar. No matter. I'm a 
competent and prolific poet. I can reel off rhymes by the 
dozen. Just watch me work: "A leaf, a twig, a branch, a 
trunk...." ah, what rhymes with trunk?

ED --   Junk.

FRED -- Was that a wise crack?

ED --   No, an evaluation.

FRED -- We poets have never been understood in our own 
generation. Let's see, let's try a different tack. Oh, yes, 
here's a good one: "My roots in the ground, my branches in the 
sky. What am I?

ED --   Washed up?

FRED -- Come on! The creative process is sometimes a little 
slow. Remember, creativity is 90% perspiration and only 10% 
inspiration. Oh! Oooo! Here's a great one! Clever, yet 
educational: "Under the bark is the cambium, the xylem and the 
phloem. Few can pronounce them, fewer still know 'em."

ED --   I think I'm going to be sick.

FRED -- Alright, smart guy, YOU come up with a poem for trees 
off the top of your head.

ED --   That's the point. This parable is not about trees. It's 
about observing the signs of the end times, when Jesus will 
return to earth.

FRED -- I knew that.

ED --   Verse 25 says, "There will be signs in the sun, moon and 
stars. On the earth nations will be in anguish and perplexity at 
the roaring and tossing of the sea...

FRED -- Ooo. Ooo. I've got it! Listen to this! "If the surf is 
12 or more, stay on shore. If the waves come up when your 
diving, get to shore and keep on driving."

ED --   Oh, brother.

FRED -- What.

ED --   What does diving have to do with the end of the world?

FRED -- I'm getting to that: "If you're surfing and the surf 
gets high, bend between your legs and kiss your..."

ED --   Tune in next time for another edition of Parable on 
Parade.

FRED -- (afar) Okay, so it it needs a little polish.

ED --   (afar) What it needs is a trash compactor.


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