Cutting Back
Sometimes I imagine statements I wish Jesus had made-- and it is only when I look in vain to find them that I get my comeuppance!
I had such a time this morning. I was watering my flowers and noticed how much better they are doing now that I've trimmed them. Cutting them back has helped them grow better.
It put me to mind of something I'd thought Jesus had said, about how sometimes the kingdom of God is experienced in the pruning, as a preparation for God's growing us better. I thought for sure that Jesus had said something like this because, back in the day when the congregations I was serving would shrink and grow, as people would go and then new folks would come, I would refer (in my own mind, anyway) to such passages. I figured God was doing the pruning, and that God would supply the growth.
But no such luck, finding the passage I thought for sure was there!
Still, as in most things horticultural, I'm just as certain that there is a lesson for me to find, in order to help me with the living of these days. Yes, I'm feeling quite "pruned," definitely cut back. And yes, there is a kind of "ouch" in that!
But there is also a promise.
Sometimes I focus too much on what I have lost, and not enough on what remains in and with me. Yes, I have lost some of my blossoming. But my roots, my grounding in God, my ability to bear fruit-- a great deal is still there! There is much capacity in me for new and re-growth.
Across from my front balcony, in the neighbor's yard, there is a rubber tree. (At least, that is what I think it is!) Every July since I have lived here, they have cut it back. Right now it is quite denuded, as a matter of fact, the few spared leaves look less like they were there before than that someone added them later to the carcass that was left. But each year that tree recovers, abundantly. By late Fall, it has resumed being its Gauguin-inspired self, and the birds coming to my balcony are the better for it. I am, too, actually, since it makes a great privacy screen and provides a cozy beauty.
Then there is my hibiscus. Early this Spring it was quite sickly; it pruned itself. It would struggle to bloom, as it would struggle for health. I began to water it differently, cleansing the leaves, seeing what worked. A week or two ago, it gave a burst of blooms, maybe 10 or more all at once, and now it has new, light green growth all over it. It is growing again!
The resiliency of plants may be matters of course for most people, but for me, being as brown-thumbed as I am, this is all pretty remarkable. And metaphorical: I'm taking courage from my plants' behavior! I'm seeing them as promising possibilities for me! If on the one hand, I'm feeling pruned, on the other hand, I'm feeling that this, too, is in accordance with God's purpose.
And I know one thing for certain: God is a LOT better gardener than I am!
Blessings...
I had such a time this morning. I was watering my flowers and noticed how much better they are doing now that I've trimmed them. Cutting them back has helped them grow better.
It put me to mind of something I'd thought Jesus had said, about how sometimes the kingdom of God is experienced in the pruning, as a preparation for God's growing us better. I thought for sure that Jesus had said something like this because, back in the day when the congregations I was serving would shrink and grow, as people would go and then new folks would come, I would refer (in my own mind, anyway) to such passages. I figured God was doing the pruning, and that God would supply the growth.
But no such luck, finding the passage I thought for sure was there!
Still, as in most things horticultural, I'm just as certain that there is a lesson for me to find, in order to help me with the living of these days. Yes, I'm feeling quite "pruned," definitely cut back. And yes, there is a kind of "ouch" in that!
But there is also a promise.
Sometimes I focus too much on what I have lost, and not enough on what remains in and with me. Yes, I have lost some of my blossoming. But my roots, my grounding in God, my ability to bear fruit-- a great deal is still there! There is much capacity in me for new and re-growth.
Across from my front balcony, in the neighbor's yard, there is a rubber tree. (At least, that is what I think it is!) Every July since I have lived here, they have cut it back. Right now it is quite denuded, as a matter of fact, the few spared leaves look less like they were there before than that someone added them later to the carcass that was left. But each year that tree recovers, abundantly. By late Fall, it has resumed being its Gauguin-inspired self, and the birds coming to my balcony are the better for it. I am, too, actually, since it makes a great privacy screen and provides a cozy beauty.
Then there is my hibiscus. Early this Spring it was quite sickly; it pruned itself. It would struggle to bloom, as it would struggle for health. I began to water it differently, cleansing the leaves, seeing what worked. A week or two ago, it gave a burst of blooms, maybe 10 or more all at once, and now it has new, light green growth all over it. It is growing again!
The resiliency of plants may be matters of course for most people, but for me, being as brown-thumbed as I am, this is all pretty remarkable. And metaphorical: I'm taking courage from my plants' behavior! I'm seeing them as promising possibilities for me! If on the one hand, I'm feeling pruned, on the other hand, I'm feeling that this, too, is in accordance with God's purpose.
And I know one thing for certain: God is a LOT better gardener than I am!
Blessings...
posted by TRXTR | 12:17 PM
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