Spring Pruning: Lessons from Jhn 15 {and Genevieve}

     We have had a rough week in our corner of the world. It started last Wednesday, when I injured my back while leaving the chiropractors office. I know, who does that? I was feeling wonderful and relaxed and then I reaches down to pick up Porter in his car seat and OUCH.
 
So I go back home and am greeted by children with green diarrhea, which turned to fevers and vomit and poop everywhere. I'll spare you any more details, but even this tough mama couldn't keep water down for 3 entire days. I've never experiences a stomach bug like that in my life or had to deal with a crew of sick kids suffering through the same thing.
 
As soon as I started feeling better, I ended up with mastitis. Bummer. I started taking antibiotics and developed one of those “rare but serious reactions” that are so blatantly displayed in the drug pamphlet, which left me on the bathroom floor for 4 more days.
 
I've been in bed still recovering while my husband is home helping with the kids. It's been horrendous on so many level.
 
While I was laying down this afternoon, my two year old comes crying in: "my lip fell off, my lip fell off!" 
 
And I'm thinking oh gosh, what now??
 
“My lip… my lip… my BEAUITFUL LIP!” she wailed.
 
She comes over and shows me her little finger with a tiny bit of skin on in. Her lips had been dry and a little bit of skin simply fell off. 
 
I said, “Oh, sweetheart, that’s just some skin!”
 
“My skin…. My skin… my BEAUTIFUL SKIN!” She cried.
 
It was naptime, so I knew there was no sense in arguing this one. I got her to sleep and started thinking.
 
Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. He prunes off everything that doesn’t bare good fruit.  Sometimes, when Jesus prunes us, we wail uncontrollably about our beautiful skin - unwilling to see the eternal insignificance of this moment and trying to hold onto something worthless.  When we surrender, we allow a loving God to remove things that will hold us back and keep us from baring the fruit God’s called us to.
 
Spring is the time when gardeners remove the dead or dying parts of plants so that beauty can flow freely from them and the harvest will be sweet. I've yet to hear any plant wail about the pruning process. It might just be their lack of vocal cords, or that they're designed to remain surrendered to nature, surrendered to the process, and surrendered to their Creator. 

Though I don't believe God prunes us with terrible things like sicknesses and disease, I do feel like these trying moments can either force us to become bitter or force us to become more deeply reliant on God. It always comes down to a choice, and though it might temporarily hurt, it's a beautiful process with a larger harvest on the other side of this life. 

​Have a beautiful week!
 

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