Pruned So We Can Bloom .
John 15:5-8

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples

There are few things I detest more than weeding. It just seems so pointless, sometimes. They’re going to grow back anyway. No one notices that you’ve weeded—only if you haven’t! It’s dirty, tedious work and I often get myself poked or stuck while I’m attempting to pull the weeds up by the roots. A close tie on the “I don’t like to do it” list is pruning rose bushes!

We have a rose bed that had been neglected and a few the rose bushes were half-dead and woody, barely producing a single bloom each in a season. The bed was overgrown with weeds and had just generally been left to its own resources. Each of the last 2 years we’ve made half-hearted stabs at doing something in those rose beds.

This year has been the “year of the yard” for us! We have set about restoring the various flower beds to their original beauty, adding some beds of our own and planning out other projects and beginning our vegetable garden for next year. All this tedious, hot, even ache-and-pain-producing work has made me think about how God must feel about us.

We’ve spent countless hours working in our yard and while we see dramatic improvement, we still have so much to do. We’ve weeded, mulched, pulled up, pruned back, babied, nurtured, transplanted and watered. And yet, we know we’ll never really be finished. As soon as we get one area the way we want it, another area needs our attention. But we do it because we love the results.

I often wonder if that’s how God feels about us. No matter how much He has poured into us—the thought, the effort, the time—the breath of life for heaven’s sake!—there is still so much that needs work. That’s not God’s fault! It’s ours! Unlike the rose bushes and mulched beds and vegetables and grass in my yard, I have a choice to grow and produce fruit. I decide every day whether or not I will allow God to prune back and cut off the parts of me that are interfering with His plan for my life.

My rose bushes are thriving. But it wasn’t until I closely examined each branch, snipped and pruned off the dead parts, mulched, watered and cared for them that they showed new growth and, eventually, began to bloom prolifically. That’s what God does for us as well. Notice I said for us and not to us! It is a painful process, but it is for our growth and development. We’re the ones who put ourselves in the need of pruning in the first place!

Isn’t God wonderful that He patiently, continually, tenderly, mercifully, graciously prunes us and cares for us so we can grow to be more like Christ?

Mary  ¶ 6:15 AM

  The Thorn in My Shoe .
2 Corinthians 12:6-9

Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

Thorns are on my mind this morning. The weather has cooled a bit – at least in the mornings – and I have been trying to get in an early morning walk on my days off. This morning was a perfect one for a brisk walk through the neighborhood. About two blocks into my walk I began to notice a little “something” bothering the bottom of my right foot. It wasn’t painful, but it was sharp and I was aware of it. I guessed I had something in my shoe. It couldn’t have been very large, because it didn’t constantly stick me. I didn’t feel it with each step and every time I would decide to stop and shake out my shoe, the tiny thorn stick stopped!

I couldn’t help but think of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians as I walked. I decided to keep my shoe on and reflect upon God’s sufficient grace and my weaknesses. I don’t know how much my life is a boast for Christ’s power, but I do know I have plenty of thorns! I guess that’s an indication of God’s confidence in my ability to honor Him and His Son once I acknowledge those thorns and turn to God for my strength and endurance!

God doesn’t want us to be weak. He just wants us to depend upon Him. If we are puffing ourselves up and feeling like we’ve got everything pretty well under control, God’s going to allow a thorn in our lives—not to knock us down, but to lift us up—to Him. He wants us to lean on Him, to depend upon Him, to trust Him and His grace.

“Thorns?” you ask. Yes, thorns. Besides my early morning “thorny” reflection, I’ve been intimate with some thorns in my yard. We have several rose bushes that yield the most incredibly beautiful roses of quite unique colors. The rose bushes were planted long ago and had gone several years without tending. They became overgrown and woody and very thorny. It was not until we pruned them back that we began to see new growth and lovely the roses.

If we allow the thorns to overtake us, our lives will not yield the “fruit” – the beautiful flowers. The thorns in my life are too numerous to list, but I will share a few: self-pity, self-reliance, worshipping idols, pride . . . okay . . . that’s enough already!! In other words, I spend too much time feeling sorry for myself – why I cannot say! I have a blessed life! I try to wrest control of my life from God’s capable hands on a daily, if not hourly, basis. I turn to food instead of God when I am tired, stressed or sad. I forget the world does NOT revolve around me far too often.

What are your thorns? Don’t whine about them. Don’t feel sorry for yourself. Don’t let them sidetrack you or distract you. Those thorns are a blessing from a God who loves you way too much to leave you to your own resources! He allows the thorns to remind us to turn to Him – run to Him. He’ll prune back those thorns and allow us to yield sweet, abundant fruit for His kingdom. So . . . boast of your thorns as a sign of how very God loves you and desires you to be fruitful!

Mary  ¶ 9:37 AM

  Too Small a Thing .
This is a repost from April 2004. It just seemed to fit for me this morning. Perhaps it does for you as well

Isaiah 49:1-7

1. Listen to me, O coastlands, and hearken, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. 2. He made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away. 3. And he said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." 4. But I said, "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God." 5. And now the Lord says, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength -- 6. he says: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." 7. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the servant of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

God gave Isaiah great gifts and graces! He used them obediently and faithfully, as God had directed him! But guess what? God's not done with him! In fact, He hasn't started working In Isaiah toward the "real" plan He had for him. He tells Isaiah, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." In my NIV translation it says, "It is too small a thing."

Do you realize what Isaiah has done for God! Are you aware of how he dedicated his life to obediently carry out every one of God's instructions to him? And he certainly isn't hesitating in these verses to remind God of how hard he's worked! Isaiah attributes his accomplishment to the Lord who from his birth made mention of his name; who was called by the Lord before he was born.

As are we all called by God. He thought us up eons ago! He waited until the exact moment in history for us to be born. He uses each and every joy and hurt, celebration and sorrow to form us to His purpose. We were, after all, made to glorify Him. God tells Isaiah that it's not enough to simply live a holy, righteous life. It's not enough to obey God up to a point then we're released from that obligation because we're tired, because we feel as if we have failed in our task, because no one seems to notice what we've done.

God wants more. And He offers more. He tells us that He knows we're tired. He knows we've labored long and hard for His kingdom. He knows that we feel defeated sometimes. He recognizes that as humans we have a limited capacity. But he reminds us that He knows us better than we know ourselves. And that we are up to the task of doing one thing more, or two things more, or a hundred things more--if that's what is in God's plan. He wants us to let Him decide when we've had enough, when we've done enough.

There are so many times I've felt like an utter failure. So many times I've thought and said, I just don't have it in me anymore. I can't keep this up. I'm speaking here of the spiritual aspect of life. My prayers seem to no avail. My obedience seems to be inconsequential in the big scheme of things. My labor seems in vain. But God wants us to recognize that if we do His work, nothing is in vain, or wasted, or a failure. If we live to glorify God, we have lived well.

Clearly, this is an area of struggle for me this morning! My resources seem depleted sometimes, but I know that God will fortify me toward accomplishing His works. My obedience to His plan for my life allows me to "be a light" for the world. That's no small task. It's no small honor. It's a sign of how much God loves me. That He would entrust me with such important work.

I hope you spend your day as a light for the world, confident that God will give you everything you need to shine!  ¶ 6:06 AM

  Turn You Eyes Upon Jesus .
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Do not lose heart. Those words are not intended to spur you on through you own strength and fortitude. They point you toward the one who can sustain us even when we have lost our strength, our hope, our fortunes, our sense of security and safety.

The nightly news is not very hopeful or encouraging these days, is it? Factories are closing at alarming rates; homes are going into foreclosure by the dozens every day; people are losing jobs; gas and food prices soar; and on and on and on. Perhaps you’re struggling with an illness, or the illness of a loved one; maybe you have health issues that make life more challenging for you. Maybe you’re in debt so deep you don’t think you’ll come out the other side. Maybe you’re grieving over the recent death of someone you cared about.

Whatever you’re dealing with in your life may not feel light or momentary. Paul reminds the Corinthians, and us, there is an answer to how we may endure whatever we are going through. I am reminded of the chorus of “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.” The writer of this song, Helen Lemmel, had certainly found solace in her Savior and his promises:

So turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

When I start feeling sorry for myself—well, honestly I’m usually pretty fully engrossed in self-pity—I think of the Cross and who hung there. My frame of reference begins to change. My earthly burdens do seem to become lighter. I start to see a light at the end of the tunnel in my situation.

Jesus promised: 14. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do [it]. 15. If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17. [Even] the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 18. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 19. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. 20. At that day ye shall know that I [am] in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 21. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. [Joh 14:14 - Joh 14:21]

Cling to the promise of Jesus. He is God’s answer to the how and the why and the who of every situation we find ourselves in. So turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.

Mary  ¶ 7:36 AM