Consider the Flowers

I looked at my rose stems, which I’d pruned back really hard because they’d got all straggly and unhealthy looking.  Then I started to worry, maybe I’d pruned them back a bit far and maybe I’d killed them.

After what seemed an eternity, I noticed little shoots appear … you could see them if you looked really closely and then they got bigger and over a period of a few weeks they grew into branches, and off the branches came luscious green leaves and lots of little rose buds.  I thought “Whew!”  And it reminded me.

Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  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.”  John 15:1-2 (NIV)

There are times in our lives when God has to prune us back, and often that pruning’s harder than we’d have imagined, and we wonder, how can we survive?  Then a little something happens and from that little something becomes strength of character and faith that we didn’t have before.

Do you remember a time in your life when you’ve felt as if God was pruning you?  When you reflect on that, what things do you have to celebrate when you compare yourself to who you are now?

By Raewyn Gardner