Recently I woke up early in the morning and decided to trim my one and only, precious rose bush. It's the only plant I've been able to keep alive.(Instead of a "green thumb", I've got a "black thumb"!) We planted this bush in front of our house about 3 years ago and it is flourishing. It is so very pretty and I try to take good care of it. As I was trimming it, I began to think about how my life is like that rose bush. I realize this thought is not an original thought to me....I've heard it mentioned over the years by others how our lives can be likened to various plants/trees. But.....as I was working and began thinking, I realized that even still, after so many years of being planted here in this life, God is still trimming and pruning my branches. My little bush is only 3 years old, and it produces SO many roses all over it. Last year it bloomed from late spring to late fall. It actually had unopened buds that froze when the temperature dropped to freezing in the late fall months. It just kept on blooming as long as it could.
I want to be like that rose bush. I want to bloom and bloom, and grow and grow. Yet, I only want to reach as far as God wants me to reach. I want to grow and bloom where God knows I'll be the best blessing I can be.
My rose bush is planted just outside my dining room windows. It's grown so tall I can see it with no problem when I look out my windows. I'm even having to trim it back a little because it is reaching out into areas I don't want it to reach. So, I wonder....Are there times in my life that as I'm growing and blooming, I may start reaching out into areas that God doesn't want me to be? I believe I've experienced that in my life and God had to trim me back a little. Sometimes we may be doing just what God called us to do, and we may be growing and blooming, experiencing God's blessings in our lives, and then all of a sudden, things change. Life changes. Many times, this appears to be something bad happening to us. Maybe even unfair and undeserved in our eyes. But if we allow ourselves to be pruned and trimmed and cared for by our Father God in those times, we will look back and see that He is doing what is necessary either for our growth or for His purpose in a greater plan that we do not understand yet.
My precious rose bush has the prettiest pink blossoms. I love to see the roses at every stage.
The buds, wrapped up so neatly and tightly, so delicately, are just waiting to pop open. You can not see these from far away, yet there are so many on my bush I can hardly count all of them. I've noticed in trimming, that many times these buds are hidden from sight by the blossoms that are already in full bloom. These are the big full pink flowers that are so visible from a distance. These blossoms are so many and so full that they are often touching each other, overlapping each other. These are not a permanent fixture on my rose bush. They are there only for a time. They open, they serve their purpose and then....they begin to fade.
I see this as the many things that fill my life. Not material things, but activities, duties, friendships, jobs, etc. God has allowed me to experience many of these things in my life. I've never traveled the world or achieved lofty goals worthy of great acclaim, but my life has been and is very fulfilling to me. There have been many changes in my life over the years. Some changes have been abrupt and difficult while others have been rather gradual and easier to accept. Some changes happen so subtly, they seem to take me by surprise when I finally notice them, but then I realize one day that it has happened and when I look closely, I see that it's been that way for a while. I can look back and see that there have been definite times in my life when God has done some pruning in my life. Some of those times have been rather painful at the moment of trimming, but I can see from this side that I experienced much growth because of it. I can look back and see that there were times I was doing just what God had planted me to do, but when the branches reached a place He didn't want me to be, He had to trim and take those things out of my life. This could be for my own sake or the sake of others. Only He knows. I choose to love my God and trust Him to make my life what He wants it to be. I pray that the blossoms in my life will be as pleasant to those around me as my rose bush is to me. I pray that as I live each day, my words and my actions will bring out a sweet aroma to bless those who know me. This is my desire.
A very important thing I noted while trimming, was that as the blossoms faded and the petals fell, it left an empty stem that needed to be trimmed off. These will, in time, dry up and break off easily, but it is healthy for the bush if I trim these off right away. In this process, I noticed that there were many flowers that I looked at and thought "Those still look pretty good." Yet, as I began to work with the bush, I would bump those flowers that at first glance looked good, and the petals would begin to fall so easily. I began to just gently shake the branches of the bush. Those petals that were weak and spent, and ready to fall, would do just that. They were not strong at all. How many times in my life, does God gently "shake" things up a bit to find out where I need to be trimmed? As the petals fell, I would sometimes keep shaking and other times just gently pull off several petals at a time to expose the stem that needed trimmed off.
This trimming of my rose bush took much longer than I originally thought. The more I trimmed, the more I found that needed trimming. Sometimes I would see a cluster of roses that still looked so pretty, but when shaken, they would begin to fall. As the weak, dying petals fell, it would either expose several other stems in need of trimming or, in many cases, brand new buds that were hidden from sight. It was then that I thought, "How many times have I been upset because God took away something that I thought was still "pretty" and after surrendering to Him, realized that He just exposed new buds waiting to open in my life?" How many other times has God removed dead "petals" from my life and exposed even more dead stems that needed to be removed so I could continue to grow and blossom for Him?
I am so grateful that God is patient and keeps caring for me. I hope and pray that you, too, will desire to grow and bloom for God. Allow Him to trim and prune when needed. Trust Him with your life. There is no greater joy in life than to belong to Jesus, and to feel His peace and joy.
I look forward to many more lessons like this one. The Holy Spirit is a great Teacher! :) I just wish he didn't start class so early in the morning! ;) LOL It seems that my most memorable times of personal worship and hearing from God have been early in the morning. I guess that's why the Bible says in
Proverbs 8:17 "...
those that seek me early shall find me."
The LORD is faithful! I pray you find Him so in your life.
Between our vacation and Alahna's graduation we celebrated Mother's Day and Mom's birthday. We enjoyed a fun afternoon at Crystal City park. Our family games of volleyball have quickly become a favorite! (We've only played twice!) LOL 
