As most of us know, pruning is a popular gardening practice to help plants grow healthy and beautiful. Plants that are well pruned are blessed to have diligent owners and gardeners. As a result, these plants are often admired by passersby and their owners receive outstanding praise for a job well done in taking care of them. And just like plants, we humans are also subject to be pruned. The only difference is that our pruning is not on the physical, but more on the spiritual.
Pruning is to simply remove unwanted aspects of our life. It could be a person or an event. Most of the times, we are not ready for all that’s going to happen in our lives. We lack confidence in the outcomes in every decision we make, and unknowingly underestimate the trust we have for ourselves and in God. This occurs because we set our hearts for less. We anticipate the worst rather than the best. Not knowing what to do, we stubbornly give up by drowning on numerous what-ifs even without even lifting a finger.
If we desire to achieve attainable pruning then let’s allow our hearts to go beyond what we only think it can do. A brave heart is one of the keys to surpass the limits that our own selves have created as imaginary.
As I’ve personally experienced and based on first-hand observations, nothing turns out fine when a thing is done out of time. Why do we tend to leap over things that were supposed to be carried out in their most healthy pruning season? For what reason do we sometimes arrive to conclude that time is of no essence at all? Do we not care enough about what the Lord is actually trying to convey that’s why He conceptualized the beauty of waiting? These questions and a whole lot more, I also asked myself.
Matthew West wrote: “God’s perfect timing must be the cause of the delay.”
If right now we are under a duvet of struggles and could not assess why we are going through all these pain and unfavorable events, I have a message for you: God is at work for better things for you. Just like a butterfly that has to undergo stages of growth before it finally stretches out those lovely little wings, so as you.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” – Proverbs 3:5-6
