Today I was pruning some flowers in my front yard. Flowers that can be very lovely but were starting to look ugly due to the dead growth on top.
As I was doing this I heard the Holy Spirit say, “You don’t need to be afraid of the pruning
season.”
I realized how close I was to the flowers, sitting right next to them, observing where new growth was trying to bloom but being stopped by the old flower.
I had to lift the leaves and check for the new buds hiding beneath a half eaten leaf and I realized, in that moment how close the Father is in a season of pruning. Gently removing old things to make room for new.
I have been in such a season, a season of surrender.
As I was doing this task today, I was noticing the simplicity of it. Sitting in the autumn breeze with birds singing and understanding a little bit more about His heart for us; how pruning to Him is beautiful and enjoyable as He’s waiting in anticipation to see the new growth that will burst forth as He cuts away the old.
My prayer recently has been to let the old things go, thought patterns that hurt my inner being, bad habits that stop me from moving forward, fearing the unknown which causes me to cling to past realities.
I want something new, and so I’ve been choosing to surrender.
But in that, it means allowing God to cut back the dead things.
That part can be challenging for me, to allow the ugly parts of me to be fully exposed.
However, today as I was tending to my little garden, I realized how completely near He is while He’s tending the garden of our hearts.
John 15:2-3 says, “He cares for the branches connected to me by lifting and propping up the fruitless branches and pruning every fruitful branch to yield a greater harvest. The words I have spoken over you have already cleansed you.”
First, He cares, He always cares. No matter what we’ve done, the love He has for us won’t stop, and yes, we “know” this, but I sometimes feel it can be hard to accept.
Second, He lifts and props up the fruitless areas of our life, exposing them, but not to whack them off and leave us with nothing, rather to reveal the fruit underneath and, while he’s doing this, we’re “propped up.” He’s holding onto us in the midst of the “cutting back”.
I got a word the other day that said that God is going to awaken dreams I’ve forgotten, and I believe those dreams are under the dead parts of my garden. They’ve been lost
because of various wounds or things I have been struggling to let go of, but they
are there.
He wants to awaken our dreams and He wants to give us a plentiful harvest in place of the damaged places of our life.
Third, the words He’s spoken over us have already cleansed us. That means that when we open our hearts to Him and allow Him to show us things we need to be rid of, there is no shame attached, because we’re already cleansed.
We’re His beloved children, and His goal is to expose the dead things so we can grow and walk into our destiny with Him.
“The season has changed, the bondage of your barren winter has ended,
and the season of hiding is over and gone. The rains have soaked the earth and
left it bright with blossoming flowers. The season for singing and pruning the
vines has arrived. I hear the cooing of doves in our land, filling the air with songs
to awaken you and guide you forth. Can you not discern this new day of destiny
breaking forth around you? The early signs of my purposes and plans are
bursting forth. The budding vines of new life are now blooming everywhere..."
Song of Songs 2:11-13.
Today, let us remember how tenderly He cares for us, and His goal is to set us free and let us soar into the beautiful destiny He has for us.
~ Caitlin Sawyer
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