The rosebush

My mom has a rose garden with about 30 different types of roses. When it is in full bloom, it is a wondrous sight. It is now my job to prune the roses. My dad taught me how to prune roses when I was very young. With finishing school and...stuff...it has taken a few weeks to get the 30+ rosebushes pruned. I have 1 rose left, and it's a doozy. There have got to be at least 1,000 (yes, that's one thousand!) thorns on each branch! In fact, at least 10 of the roses out there have the same amount of thorns-there is absolutely no way to grab a branch without getting stuck! This last rosebush-I just got tired of fighting with it today...I'll finish it tomorrow. It's a toughie, yes it is.

With pruning roses, there are so many life metaphors you and I could come up with, I'm sure. Especially with the thorns of life-getting through tough stuff...getting hurt...knowing we have to just get through it. I'm sure there's more...

As I was pruning today, I looked at the clippers as I clipped the branches just above the buds, or to cut off a dead branch, and thought about the season that rose is in right now. It was once blooming, in so many different directions, but I had to decide where to cut and prune, which direction would be good for it to grow in, and which way to keep it from growing in, and where it had to just stop because that part was done. It was up to me to prune in such a way that it would grow the right direction or to grow to its best ability and be beautiful. If I didn't prune, the rosebushes would grow wild. The blooms would be beautiful, but eventually the thorns, branches and wild mess would take away from the beauty of the roses.

Now before you freak out, please keep in mind that I don't see myself as God. I see myself as the rosebush. God, in His perfect timing, is the one doing the pruning. Life is about living, growing, dying-and getting pruned and trusting God that where He prunes us, we will grow and be even more beautiful than we were before. Sometimes those clippers prune and it hurts, deeply. Sometimes so deeply we deaden that area in our lives and we think it's easier that way. But then...we just become a stump, with no blooms. I don't know about you, but I can't live like that. So, hopefully we recognize the buds that God has left and let the healing and growing process begin. That is where we need to trust God. And trust others. Yes, the scars are there, but the roses, I mean we, can be all the more beautiful while we live, grow and trust.

Oh that's a toughie, isn't it?

Look, all I know is that while I was pruning the last rosebushes today, I was praying, asking God to heal where I have been clipped and to help me grow. I looked at those rosebushes and imagined what they will look like in the spring. The new buds and the beautiful colors and smells. They will be better because of my pruning. I prayed for my family and friends and in how many ways we have been clipped this year and are hurting. I literally asked God why He was clipping at us so much. I begged Him to please stop pruning. Then I asked God to please comfort and heal. Right now, all I can do is trust God's pruning, that He knows what's best.

Oh, that's a toughie, isn't it?