Topic: Pruning In Adversity

God does not wish adversity upon us. God does not inflict pain and suffering. However, He does help us after the hurting and suffering has started. God's ultimate victory for us is to help us turn our pain into something productive. The Christian faith often calls God's ability and our willingness to turn our pain into something productive the act of pruning. In nature, the act of pruning is an act of cutting away unnecessary limbs and branches of wooded plants. The act of pruning enables the pruned plant to more efficiently distribute juices and nutrients to the fruit of the plant. Pruning thus insures a bountiful crop come harvest time. In the same manner, God enables us to grow stronger and be more productive by helping us use our pain and suffering for His glory instead of just letting our pain hurt us for no reason. After we have been pruned, our spiritual "juices and nutrients" can be more concentrated in us and our spiritual productivity can be increased. A lady recalls her experiences when her husband began pruning their peach tree. "A peach tree stands in our back yard. Un-pruned, the tree grew big and leafy. And it was loaded with peaches but the fruit was disappointingly small and tasteless. The year he was out of work, Larry went to work on the tree. When I came home from school one day and saw how far back he had pruned it, I stared in shock. 'You've killed it,' I cried. 'Now we won't have any peaches at all.' I was wrong. That spring the pruned branches burst forth with a beautiful blanketing of pink blossoms. Soon little green peaches replaced the blossoms. 'Leave them alone,' I begged. Larry ignored me and thinned the fruit. By the end of the summer the branches were so heavily laden they had to be propped up. And the peaches -- oh, how large and sweet and juicy they were! There was no denying it: the tree was far better off for the painful cutting it endured under Larry's pruning shears." In a spiritual and emotional sense adversity prunes us and gives us a better vision of real life. In addition, pruning reorients our expectations to be more realistic, inspires us to draw more definite plans for our life, and gives us the hunger to be in His Light.

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These words were posted at one of Shepherd's Care Ministries Sites called Wisdom Moment. This site is located at: http://www.shepherdscare.net/wisdomminute

Shepherd's Care Ministries Main Site located at: http://www.shepherdscare.net/