A post from June 2020…
Sitting in the garden the other night deadheading the plants I began to ponder its similarities to our own lives. You see, the purpose of deadheading plants is to regenerate new growth, to rid the plant of negative energy use and to redirect more productive use, such as growing new blooms. It also gives better eye appeal as the worn and dying blooms have reached their end. Beautiful for a time, yet no longer thriving. When properly deadheaded the plant has the freedom to grow and bloom again. Its new blooms give off fragrance, catch the eye of onlookers and for a period show forth the beauty intended, but in time the deadheading process must once again occur. Sometimes it is just one or two blooms within the plant that are cut back and other sometimes it is all of them at once. When we deadhead a plant, we get rid of the blossom that no longer blooms. Another process that can occur is pruning. Pruning is ridding any part of the plant, even new growth. This is done to train a plant in the way you want it to grow, to restrict growth you do not want to happen, or to just help it grow healthy.
As I look within, I am reminded of the same process of deadheading and pruning that needs to occur. What in me is no longer thriving? What in me is taking up energy that could better be served elsewhere? What reshaping do I need so that I can grow properly? Am I living in freedom and new growth or am I trying to survive and bring forth beauty from old blooms? In John 15:2 the Bible states, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”
Our Heavenly Father is the master Gardner. Just as I needed to take the time to deadhead and prune my garden, we need to let the Lord do the same within us. As we allow Him to rid what is dead within us, what is taking up unnecessary space, we will have the freedom for new growth, new blossoms, and new beauty.
I recall a time in my life when things were busy…not necessarily bad but just nonstop. I was working full time at a job I loved, raising kids, attending sports events, church ministry and more. Life was good and I was busy doing but my inner garden had become so overgrown. There were blooms that needed deadheading and so much that needed pruning. Yes, my garden was full, but it was not properly thriving. My roots were not getting the nourishment they needed, and many dead blossoms lingered on until I allowed the Lord, the Master Gardner, to come and change things. As I began to rest in him and allow the process of deadheading and pruning to occur within me there was a rebirth in my garden. New life was growing and a sense of freedom from within as my roots were now being properly watered. The once overgrown spaces were carefully managed allowing light to come in.
What does your garden look like? Are you in need of the Master Gardner to do a work within? We have that choice to release it all to Him and to let him deadhead and prune. I challenge you today to let go and let God.
faithforward 