i remember the time my mom came over to teach me how to properly prune my roses...
we had planted them that year in my front yard...five beautiful rose bushes...gorgeous roses that i was able to cut and have inside my home...in several vibrant colors...i would leave some uncut...so i would have roses in the front yard...as well as inside my home...
so back to the pruning...mom came over one brisk day...and we started in on the first rose bush...i have to admit...when we were done...there was nothing left to the once beautiful rose bushes that stood in my front yard...
tiny little stubs sticking out of the dirt...what had we done??
the only reason i didn't question it...well...my mom had beautiful roses in her yard...year after year....so whatever she was teaching me...had to be right...even though it looked SO wrong...
the amazing thing...is that the next year...i had the most beautiful roses...more vibrant and bigger than the year before...
and it has been like that...year after year...beautiful roses blooming in my front yard...
but year after year...i have pruned the rose bushes down to nothing...at the appropriate time of year...making them look like nothing...stripped of everything...
but now...i knew it was for the good of the plant...
boy...is that an exact replica of our lives lived with the Lord?
john 15:2 says: He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
uh...yeah...
when pruning is going on in your life...well...it isn't fun...i will testify to that!
we've all had setbacks...whether it was in our jobs...possibly a relationship...maybe even a ministry...
i know for me...unfortunately...when these things happen...my first response is not always one of "i know God's got it all under control"...i eventually get to that point...but sometimes...these setbacks cause me to wonder...and question...
what's going on?
why is this happening?
the truth is...we do not see what God is doing behind the scenes...
one thing i know for sure...hard to say sometimes...but i get it...i really do...
God is more concerned and interested in our character...more than our comfort...
the pruning process...although difficult at times...is for our good...
when God is "pruning" in our lives...He is working at cleaning the areas of our lives that do not match His plans in our lives...
so as hard as it is...when it is happening...when God allows our world to be turned upside down...we may be experiencing the pruning process...so that we may produce more spiritual fruit...
for me...seeing the outcome of pruning my roses...pruning from the Lord means one thing...it is making room for more good stuff to come...the Lord is cutting things back in my life...and yours...in order to produce more...more Christ-like fruit in our words...our attitudes...and our deeds...
what could be better than that?
athough the pruning process at times has felt like torture...and doesn't always look pretty...just as my roses bloom afterwards...i focus on the outcome of the pruning process...
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