She loves it!

It is actually hard to keep her out of the garden!

She is always up for tackling whatever job there is at hand.

If I can’t find her in the house, then I know exactly where to find her!

Yesterday afternoon, it was the turn of the holly tree.

I had to help hold the ladder whilst she tackled the huge tree that had grown so much over the last three years.

Looking carefully, Monic identified what needed to be pruned.

I watched her lopping off some big branches and felt a little sorry for the tree, as it looked a bit painful.

Ouch!

Pruning changes the whole shape and future of the tree.

You know, we’re also a little like trees.

From time to time, we need may some pruning too, so that we can grow as God intended.

Its either to remove dead branches or in this case where there has been so much growth, you and I need to be pruned, shaped or moulded.

It can happen at different times and in different areas throughout our lives.

In John 15:2 Jesus Christ explains that “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”

Sometimes I even ask myself, if I need to have some dead branches that need lopping off, those that may be hindering my own relationship with my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Even though it can be painful and a little uncomfortable, the best thing you can do is let the Master Gardner, do His pruning.

He has great plans for your life.

Its only after those sometimes-painful experiences that you will truly see the fruits of the labours.

After Monic was finished pruning, the holly tree was nearly where it needed to be. In her words its “90%. It’s a lot better.”

Why not look up Hugh B. Brown’s masterful talk from 1968 “God is the Gardner”.

Sometimes His pruning is a little painful.

But ultimately, if we trust His plan, we will most definitely bloom.

How is the Lord pruning you?