Back to the garden (again…).

Gardening means short-term pain, long-term gain. Take thinning the seedlings, for example. I hate making that decision! Which one gets pulled up and which one remains? UGH. But without thinning, none of the plants do well.

Sometimes we also need a little thinning. We have to say no to one thing in order to say yes to something else.

And pruning. I hate that too! I’m glad I’m not a plant because they have to take a whacking in order to thrive.

But so do we. Jesus said this in John 15:1-2. “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 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.”

“for whom the Lord loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.” Proverbs 3:12

We have to endure the downsides…and keep our eyes on the prize.