This old fat gal is way out of her comfort zone! We worked in the yard two full days this week, and I am dragging. After all the storm damage a couple of weeks ago, we knew we were going to have to do some serious pruning; one thing led to another and we may have gone a little overboard, or at least that’s what my achy breaky back is saying.
Ten years ago we planted an ornamental pear tree (way too close to the house), not really expecting it to live, much less grow to be a giant tree that overcrowded everything else in the yard. That puppy is gone; no regrets. (I guess it would have been there forever; even the storm didn’t distress it one bit.)
We pruned what’s left of the maple tree and are hopeful that someday it will fill in and look beautiful again. We had to completely remove the shrub beside the outhouse (tool shed) that I have pampered for several years; it just didn’t hold up well when the wind toppled the outhouse over on it. We had to prune a smaller tree beside a flower bed because its limbs were growing into the ornamental fence. So while we were at it, we started completely cleaning out the big flower bed; the forsythia has pretty much taken over.
Somehow in the midst of all this work, somehow I decided I was enjoying it, and somehow I decided that the outhouse needed to be moved to the back yard. Somehow My Stanley wasn’t thrilled about my new found love of yard work, but he moved the outhouse anyhow. (And somehow this process brought on a whole other set of yard work projects, but I’ll have to save that for another blog. It’s still a touchy subject around here. Heh heh heh.)
And that then left us to deal with my momma’s irises. These flowers were some I had gotten from her many years ago while she still lived in Sheridan. I will never have the green thumb that she had, but I’ve somehow managed to keep those irises living all these years - but they were taking over. So we made a new iris bed and took the rest of them to another project we’re working on.
As we were thinning out those irises that were suffocating the other beautiful flowers and plants, I kept wondering if there are areas in my life where I am suffocating what someone else is trying to do; I pray that I’m ever mindful of what the Lord would have me to do while working alongside my brother and sisters in Christ. God has a special purpose for every single one of us; if we’re “planted” where He wants us, the results of our calling will come together like a well-tended garden. My momma’s irises will bloom again next spring and will be a constant reminder not only of happier times with my momma, but also a reminder of God’s nurturing and care for his children.
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.
John 15:2 KJV
The whole time we worked in the yard, I kept thinking about all of the verses telling us about God pruning us out of love. Every limb I clipped away didn’t seem like I was doing it much good at all - now - but when what is left is watered and nurtured, in no time at all it will begin to take shape and be even more beautiful than before. All the rough spots I’ve been through in my life, though painful, have left me a much more thankful person; I’ve learned to trust and KNOW that God WILL take care of me, even in the pruning process. Growing is a continual process and even though I’m (this age), I’ve still got a lot of growing to do.
Pull the weeds; nurture the flowers. That’s what He does with us.
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