Lately, I'm spending more time with my pruning shears than I am with my husband. A year ago we moved into a great house with an expansive, wooded lot. Initially it was charming and whimsical in its wildness; lately all I want to do is cut everything back, way back. We're waging war against our shrubbery and guess who's winning? Is "slash and burn" agriculture legal in the US? Probably not...
My dad is a master gardener and so I always appreciate his help in the yard. He has an eye for the potential of shrubs, flowers, trees... how they could look next season given a good pruning this season. In fact, when I intially got antsy to simply raze our jungle and begin anew, Dad encouraged me to give things a full blooming season before I did anything drastic. I unwillingly agreed.
Over the course of a year, we've seen some beautiful and surprising plants come into their glory. We've tried to see the yard more through the eyes of the ninety year old couple who sold us their home and garden of forty years.
As I prune my bushes sometimes down to ugly stubs, I wonder if God isn't doing a work of intense pruning on me. In the book The Shack, there's a beautiful scene where the Holy Spirit character, Sarayu, is working in her garden, pulling weeds, transfering bulbs, moving shrubs around. Mac, the protagonist, walks up and says, "What a mess." In pure joy, Sarayu turns to him and says, "Yes, isn't it beautiful." That's how God sees our lives - a beautiful, messy work in progress. He sees us with gardener's eyes, pruning here, cutting back there, giving us room for new growth, new roots and new blooms that only he can see. "Behold, I am making all things new." Revelation 21:5.
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