under the fig tree

At the risk of sounding like a schoolgirl at recess on the playground, let me tell you something. This is how big my God is: He knows everything about everyone, including every single secret of the heart. He hears the vows whose syllables will never hit the light of day, rumblings and mumblings of the slightest seismic measure, and prenatal attitudes (some pleasing, others not so) that are too young to have a detectable heartbeat. But they are alive as soon as they are conceived and each heart is a nursery full of them. And He is intimately familiar with each one.
We began the Gospel of John this morning. The magnetic person of Jesus shouts boisterously to me from the first chapter, saying, "Come, follow me!" I almost rose from my reclining chair in response. Once you know the One who issues the invitation, it's a no-brainer. Really. But these first disciples didn't know Him yet. They knew John the Baptist though, and hung on to his every word. When Jesus passed by them, John said:
"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
That's quite a statement, and coupled with the compelling Presence of True Light, it was enough to make men adjust their life-paths. Unquestioningly, they followed Him. They left their nets; their very livelihoods. Their lives were never the same.
I love, love, love the exchange between Jesus and Nathanael.

"The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me."
Philip, like Andrew and Peter was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote -Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
"Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked.
"Come and see!" said Philip.
When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."
"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were under the fig tree before Philip called you."
Then Nathanael declared,"Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."
Jesus said, "You believe because I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that."

So , what was Philip doing under the fig tree? Jesus never says. I believe that the Knower of Every Heart, the Living Word that was in Existence before Time Began, read Nathanael's mail. The best news of all? Nathanael's mental rumblings pleased Him greatly. As for Nathanael, major revelation was in store as a result of God's pleasure in him.
What encourages me is simply that God knows everything about me. And although I displease Him often enough, He continues to love me. Then to boot, for the glorious (and possibly rare) instances that my secret thoughts please Him, He reveals Himself to me for who He really is. The more I grasp His essence, the more I want to follow Him. I won't fret that fig trees are hard to find around these here parts; I'll carve a thinking-niche in a traffic jam if need be.
Especially if it means that He will find me there.