I've thought a lot about this thing called pruning.
You prune a plant before the flower or the limb is dead. This is what makes the process of pruning so painful. A dead flower or branch is so very easy to cut off...who needs or wants a dead branch? Just go ahead and lop that bad boy off and it makes everything look better.
But what about a branch with life? A branch that still has blooms? A branch that has green leaves growing revealing that life that is still happening and growth is still going? Now that's a different story altogether.
...And that's exactly where the pain in this process called pruning exists. It is painful to watch my hydrangeas that still have some color in them be cut off from the branch. It just seems that life should stay connected to the plant.
But this removal of living blooms is exactly what needs to happen for plants to be full and healthy. Otherwise, you have a plant with mediocre blooms everywhere but no purpose or direction - too many blooms, spread to thin...
Likewise, this is what will need to happen in our lives if we want fullness of growth and beauty.
God removes branches that are still alive in order to flourish branches that could be so much more than what they currently are. He knows what needs energy, and what should be sacrificed. I have to be willing to embrace the adventure of and believe in the fullness of what is to come - instead of hanging on to that little piece of life being removed....
otherwise, that little piece of life will suck far too much energy out of my other divine purposes that were prepared for me before my life began.
They say that when you buy flowers to plant in the spring you should pinch off all the blooms in order for the plants to grow bigger and fuller than they currently are...I've only been able to bring myself to do this a time or two because it's just too sad for me to watch those healthy blooms fall to the ground. It's so counterintuitive. But if it's better in the long run....
May I not be so fearful in my life. May I not fear the life that is being cut from me. I want to trust that if something of "life" is being removed, then there is a greater life somewhere else that is going to be grown. May I allow God to prune me carefully so that I am the fullest, flourishing version of myself - a gift of beauty and grace to the world.
