I have committed one of the mortal sins
of gardening and I am ashamed. I violated the third commandment –
Thou shalt prune regularly.
I have a narrow strip of flower bed
that sits on the edge of our property, hidden from view by our
vehicles. I admit, it is sorely neglected. There is no sprinkler
system on that side so I planted three different, low-maintenance
shrubs that would grow up to be a screen between our property and the
neighbors' even more neglected yard - two flowering red currants, two
blue star junipers, and two barberry bushes. My faulty thinking was
leave them to their own and they would grow large and full. Now, a
few years later, I finally came to accept that they are a mess. The
two larger ones ran wild and crazy - completely misshapen masses of
chaos. They crowded out the other smaller ones which remained
scraggly, sad little plants. To be frank – it was ugly.
So, out came my pruning shears, big and
small, and away I hacked. I shaped, molded, and thinned, and by the
time I was done, my pile of cut branches was bigger than the plants
that remained. Some spots are now bare but will have a chance to
grow in more evenly. Other places look dead, as I had to cut them
back far enough that the dead undergrowth was revealed.
The same is true for us – more is not
necessarily better. Our lives can become misshapen masses of chaos
as we try to be all and do all - until God comes at us with his
pruning shears. As He hacks away, the bare and dead areas of our
lives are revealed. We can easily make the mistake of feeling the
process is cruel and hurtful. Maybe we feel we are being “demoted”
or punished.
I can assure you, that is not the
intent. A wise gardener (One wiser than I) knows the pruning is for
a purpose. The gardener is the one with the greater perspective. He
knows better than we when our lives are getting out of control –
when one area is overgrown and other areas are left bare; when the
outside looks green and healthy but underneath there are places
drying up and dieing; when our zeal for being “bigger and better”
is actually overshadowing others – after all, a garden is never
just about one plant.
Pruning is not a one time event but a
regular part of a gardener's routine (or should be). So, embrace the
pruning seasons of your life. He is making your life a beautiful
part of an even more beautiful arrangement.
