Looking at the #trees this morning as I walked through my neighborhood gave me a greater appreciation of what it takes to rejoice even in loss.
Last season, I took the advice of my father-in-law who told me that I needed to prune the #ShadeTrees he helped me plant to be sure that they’re growing with shade-providing branches pointing up and out. I did my research and pruned away.
Yet today, as I was walking and looking at the trees that the association in my neighborhood planted, I can tell that they have been doing some serious pruning, too. What I see is that many of the trees have their branches pointing up as if they’re reaching into the sky – with clean trunks devoid of extra growth. They responded to being cut by redirecting their growth upward. However the strategy is not to prune everything away at once because that would cause trauma to the tree. Spacing is important, too. I can see places in the trunk where these trees began to heal and not grow there again – responding positively to the pruning/training…
Far too often, when our Creator begins to prune us, we don’t respond positively to the perfecting process that we are being put through. Instead of lifting up our branches, I mean hands, we complain about what was cut and the temporary pain that we felt in the process which mostly deals with taming our flesh and a circumcision of our hearts.
However, if we would just take a minute to look and raise up our hands to rejoice in and trust what we are being formed into (which is often times at place of rest/shade for someone else) we would surely raise our hands and rejoice over what our Maker is shaping is into; bearing fruit in service to Him and others even as the trees are beginning to bud in this new season of life!
MANU FORTI MINISTRIES, LLC
“Speaking LIFE to unlock the POWER of GOD within YOU” ™
