Heart Hope by Olga

The little nandina bush was nestled up perfectly in the corner of the drive at Mother's house. I commented about its perfection and mother laughed and replied that the little plant could have been entirely different. It had taken lots of dedicated work to turn it into the beautifully landscaped object.  First it had to be planted in the right place so that its loveliness would be displayed properly, but that was merely the beginning. The most important steps were to prop it up in certain places to strengthen and train it to grow in the right direction and to prune off the branches that were growing in the wrong direction. God does the same thing with us. He plants us in just the perfect place to use our skills, our talents and our experiences to benefit others and help bring about His will. He props us through fellowship with others who encourage us, through reading His Word and through developing a deep personal relationship with us so we will be strong in our faith...

If you are a gardener, you know the principle that in order to promote proper growth and production of fruit on a tree; you must occasionally prune the branches. There are multiple reasons why we need to cut the branches back.  First and maybe most important is so that they don’t become a safety hazard for someone. We don’t want a dead branch to fall on a person’s head or a low hanging branch to hit someone in the face. We also clip back branches that are unhealthy or that have become infested with insects. This makes the whole tree healthier and more productive. And finally trees are pruned to make them more beautiful and shapelier. God does the same thing in our lives. He prunes us so that we are not a danger to other people and He trims us to make us more beautiful on the inside, but He also snips off the parts of us that are not healthy, so that we can become more productive for His plans and purposes.  This struck me recently as God has just opened the door of opportun...