Pruning

Pruning Recently, I was out in the yard pruning the trees. I was triming off some of the lower branches of some of them so I could mow around them easier, so they wouldn't scratch me as I tried to trim closer to them. Other trees in the yard, I was trimming up so I could use them for shade trees next summer when I'm cooking out or wanting to sit outside and read and write. I was cutting off parts of the trees, taking away from them so that they would better serve my purpose for them. We all know that having something taken away from us hurts, especially when it's somebody. When we lose a relationship, we feel like a part of us has been taken away. Like a part of us has been cut off. It hurts! What if that relationship was really bad for us, but we didn't realize it until it was gone and we've had time to heal? It could be a spouse, a lover, a friend, a family member, a habit, an addiction, a job, a ministry, or any other kind of crutch that becomes a destructive relationship. Something that we feel like we need in order to survive, but we actually need to be rid of in order to live our life to it's fullest. Now, back to pruning the trees. I was trimming the branches from them with a bow saw, a small hand saw. As I was doing this, my hands were getting scrapes and cuts on them. So, as I was pruning the trees and hurting them for now in order for them to grow and be more fruitful in the future, I was also feeling some pain in what I was doing to them. This made me think of some scripture.... 　 John 15:1-8 (New Century Version) John 15 Jesus Is Like a Vine 1 "I am the true vine; my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that does not produce fruit. And he trims and cleans every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce even more fruit.3 You are already clean because of the words I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. A branch cannot produce fruit alone but must remain in the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit alone but must remain in me. 5 "I am the vine, and you are the branches. If any remain in me and I remain in them, they produce much fruit. But without me they can do nothing. 6 If any do not remain in me, they are like a branch that is thrown away and then dies. People pick up dead branches, throw them into the fire, and burn them.7 If you remain in me and follow my teachings, you can ask anything you want, and it will be given to you.8 You should produce much fruit and show that you are my followers, which brings glory to my Fath In the past year, I have lost a relationship of three years, left a church I called home, left a ministry I had thrown so much of myself into, had to shut down another ministry a group of us had started, lost a brotherhood of friends, and severed many other relationships that were tied to all of these parts of my life. Yes, it hurt. In fact it hurt me more than i thought I could have beared. As time went by though, I started to see how all of these things were holding me back from what I was meant to do in life. I've also seen my own ministry flourish like couldn't have imagined and reach people all over the world. I found a new home church where I was made to feel right at home from the first day that I walked into it! I've also met so many new friends and reconnected with several old ones. In so many ways, all that I lost has been restored many times over. This reminds me of another scripture..... 　 Job 42:10-12 (New Century Version) 10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord gave him success again. The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had owned before.11 Job's brothers and sisters came to his house, along with everyone who had known him before, and they all ate with him there. They comforted him and made him feel better about the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave Job a piece of silver and a gold ring. 12 The Lord blessed the last part of Job's life even more than the first part. All of this also made me think. As I said, while I was pruning the trees I was getting cuts and scrapes on my hands. It was hurting me to prune the trees, even though it would be the best thing for them in the future. It made me think, does the Lord feel the same way when He is pruning us? Does it hurt Him to take away from us and to see us hurt even if it is the best thing for us in the long run? Remember how it makes us hurt to see the ones we love in pain? Don't you remember how much our Lord loves us? 　 John 3:16 (New King James Version) 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Even though it's for our own good, God doesn't enjoy seeing us suffer when we experience loss. He feels it too! God bless you all my friends, Pete 10/23/10