God Prunes Us for Our Benefit

At the start of spring this year, I was driving down a tree lined street, my usual route, on the way to work. I always love driving down tree lined roads. The trees all seem to stand majestically. And don't they always look like they seem to grow in unison with each other? Are they in cahoots I often wonder? Just look at one tree and try and spot the difference with the other.

The trees look dead...
I love to compare the bushy foliage in the summer as opposed to the stark, naked branches in the winter. However, that spring morning, I noticed that the branches had been cut quick brutally over the weekend. I looked with sadness wondering, if some decision had been made by the council to fell all the trees on that road. I perceived that maybe the trees had grown out of control and had thus become a hazard. When I later realised that the trees were not going to be cut down, I was quite relieved. But I still wondered if the trees would remain in that deprived looking state. I just could not see how anything could come of those trees after that! Poor trees, I thought

They have only been pruned...
Well some time ago, whilst driving down the same street, my eyes looked up to see what had happened to 'my' trees. I noticed a rich, green, bushy lush of leaves had grown. It then finally dawned on me that the trees had only been pruned in order to shape the tree. Hellooo!

God prunes us...
Isn't God like that with His children at times? We get knocks, suffer a few setbacks and face some frustrations and wonder where God is in the midst of all our distress? Yet God has been standing right beside us. All He has been doing is pruning us, getting rid of the dead branches. Shaping us to be productive and fruitful.

We have not been left for dead...
Sometimes we get knocked so badly, we wonder if we will ever recover. Oh yes, fewof us have been strangers to a few disappointments or 'prunes' we have met along the way in this journey of life. Yet though, some knocks just really whip the life out of us. At those times, we think, hey, this time, it looks like the tree of life in us must have been axed down.

Trust Him!
God is never too far away. Sometimes we can't see further than our nose. Don't you think He knows what He is doing? As the Master Tree Surgeon, He knows that in season we will bring forth if we only we trust Him and are patient! Is any-one listening?! Also we have to realise that some prunes are more severe looking than others. That's the way it is.

In Closing...
Thank you God for pruning me. I will bloom and blossom in time. I leave it all in your surgical Hands. Amen

Just as I was ignorant of the concept of tree pruning, often our ignorant eyes can't see that all God is doing, is shaping us for a brighter tomorrow.

© August 2006