This week, Carrie Buckner explores the parable of the barren fig tree and its implications for understanding God’s character. In 1986 Manchester United, a Premier League soccer team, hired an unproven manager whose first three seasons were all losing seasons. But, rather than fire him, the club remained patient, and that patience produces one of the most decorated tenure’s in soccer history. The parable, at its heart, is a picture of divine patience and mercy that runs deeper and that’s more extravagant than what we often extend to ourselves and others. We live in a culture that demands immediate results, yet this parable invites us to stop comparing our growth to against everyone else’s.