Prune

“Everything has seasons, and we have to be able to recognize when something’s time has passed and be able to move into the next season. Everything that is alive requires pruning as well, which is a great metaphor for endings.” – Henry Cloud

I was about to throw out the dried up flower basket yesterday. It had its season. Instead, I removed the dead flowers and leaves to see if it would come back. Sure enough, new buds suddenly appeared overnight. Its season wasn’t quite over yet.

We delay making changes thinking that they must be big and drastic. Often times, it merely takes a bit of pruning to clear enough space for new beginnings to unfold. And there are times when a season really has passed and pruning won’t be enough.

Either way, we need only cut away the dried foliage of assumption, judgment, expectation, indecision and fear and watch love, joy, hope, delight and purpose bloom.

Prune.

“The gracious, eternal God permits the spirit to green and bloom and to bring forth the most marvelous fruit, surpassing anything a tongue can express and a heart conceive.” – Johannes Tauler