Radical Pruning



Tree before storm

 The last storm took one half of a tree down in our yard.  It wasn't the prettiest of trees nor the most healthy or obviously, the strongest.  But it was very pleasant to focus on from my window and had a limb low enough to hang a bird feeder on.  Planted to one side of the pool, it lost enough leaves to be a menace to the pool cleaning chores, yet the odd shape was appealing to the eye.  My eye anyway.

My husband cut up the downed half tree and remaining half, but the stumps wouldn't bulge.  I found another tree limb suitable to hang the feeder located in another part of the yard.  The stumps look desolate and sad and the backyard misses the shade.  The birds miss it more.  They keep flying around the stumps as if not quite believing their shelter and food source is really gone.  It's as though, if they go one more time, things will be different and they will be fed as always, finding a limb to rest on inbetween feasting on the swinging lunch bar. As it is, they sing out in high pitched cries of disappointment and frustration.

Sometimes I am that bird.  I go to God's Word every morning and I feed and feel nourished and comforted.  Then that morning comes when I read and my world is rocked and I find myself tetering on the brink of something fearsome.  Have I ever read this message before?  Why did I not understand it as it seems to be taking my very breath now?

Sometimes I think...I know...that God is pruning me, cutting away the parts of me that hinder my growth, my relationship with Him...and while I am thankful for His care, this pruning, this cutting away can be painful.  Sometimes I can hardly hold up, I am so weary.  But my heart knows that He is always there, opening other doors, keeping me hungry for new opportunities to serve Him.  He is always there and will give me what I need.  I am blessed to be pruned.

John 15:5-6 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned."

Our tree needed a serious, radical pruning.  It came at a cost.  But as persistent as these birds be in flitting back and forth to the unsightly stumps, I am confident they will find their familiar feeder, equipped with nourishment, and all they need do is fly in a different direction.

Flutters

Love.  Confidence.  Contentment.  Joy.  Then...flutters.

A clear, sunny day can suddenly turn to black, ominous clouds and blustery winds.  Loving, harmonious marriages destroyed by a weak moment.  Healthy, active bodies brought low by a silent killer disease.

If we could see our futures, would we...could we...sustain happiness for any length of time?  Maintain hope?  Persevere even when the time table is speeding toward our end?  Would we be okay with it?

The question posed to us by Brian Basham last Sunday night rings in my ears.  If a "bad" thing happened to me or my loved ones, would I be okay with it?  With God?   Would I blame Him or would I praise Him?  How easy for me when my prayers are answered in my favor.  How easy for me when the cost is not completely debilitating but yet allowing me to bounce back. 

Vowing to forever honor and praise the Lord, in good times and in bad, there suddenly comes little ...flutters.  The heart skips a beat and the breath is caught, and a prayer is uttered as my hand flies to my chest.  I believe, Lord, help my unbelief.







 

Overwhelmed

I am overwhelmed.  My blessings abound and I am thankful.  How much more can I continue to receive, enjoy and hold when there are others hurting, worried and lost.  

Losing my mother when she was only 57, losing my middle sister when she was 56, and six months later losing my dad when he was 84.  The big "C" word invaded our lives with Mother's illness and it seemed downhill after that.  My sister, Cathy, fought a pituitary tumor for 10 years and my dad fought lung cancer for 1 + years.  Where is my debilitating, life-ending disease?

My friend, Sammy Carroll, has been and is fighting for his life, and his sweet wife, Faye, hangs in the balance.  

My Alabama relatives continue to recover from a devastating tornado, losing material things but thankfully, not their lives.  Hundreds more lost it all.

There are hundreds more going to bed tonight on a dirt floor or maybe concrete sidewalk.  There are children starving in third world countries who cannot seem to advance past their greedy governments.  There are marriages riding a roller coaster of abuse/love/hate/dependency. 

So much unfairness, so much hurt, hunger and hate. 

Yet, I, one who is most undeserving, feel the blessings of her children and grandchildren, a faithful and caring husband, see the pleasing view of God's nature in abundance, know the hope and trust of her saviour and redeemer, and wonder...as blessed as I am...am I fulfilling my God's plan for my life...am I reaching out for those who are lost, hungering and thirsting for a better life...am I growing and changing into Christ's likeness?

 "Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." (James 4:13-15)

Dear Father, help me to appreciate my life, but don't let me grow comfortable lest I miss an opportunity to help someone see your faithfulness, your love and your abundant blessings...and your promises.  In the name of Jesus.

The Weaver

I prefer days with blue skies and warm temperatures, with maybe a few light cumulus clouds drifting through.  I prefer tranquil days and peaceful nights of blissful sleep with no dreams.  I prefer no turmoil, no problems, no dissent, no stress, no forgotten chores.  I prefer people who do right. 

However, I live in a different time, a different family, a different world.  And in spite of all my clinging to a smoothly carved path, someone's roller coaster comes along and scoops me up to heights I'd rather not experience, to lows I can hardly bear.  Sometimes I find the roller coaster has my own name written on it...and I didn't even know I started it rolling.

A poem was read to us at a worship service called "The Weaver" by Benjamin Malacia Franklin. 

My life is just a weaving
Between my Lord and me.
I cannot change the color
For He works most steadily.

Oft times He weaves the sorrow
And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper
And I the underside.

Until the loom is silent
And the shuttle cease to fly,
Will God roll back the canvas
And explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful
In the skillful  Weaver's Hand
As the golden threads of silver
He has patterned in His Plan.

It is not easy to be thankful or even understand hard times, but it serves a purpose.  I ask God to refine me, knowing from experience that this request may be answered in ways difficult to handle and by methods I might wish not to encounter.  But that is the point, isn't it?  That my faith be stronger, that I grow in dependence on the grace of our Lord, and that I surrrender each and every concern to the One who knows me best.

While my heart aches for those facing trials, both real and imagined, my prayers have become my constant thought process, increasing my love for those in need and praying they turn to the only one who can truly comfort...knowing that one day we will fully understand the dark threads and how they shaped our lives.