Prunings

 

Over forty years ago, as a new Christian, I sat on a plane on the runway in Los Angeles, seated with my two eldest children, who were just 4 and 2. It was January, and rain lashed the portholes on the aircraft. The sky itself was weeping, and inwardly, so was I. We’d just said goodbye to my parents and sister: in those days, they could walk us to the gate, so the goodbyes were fresh, my sorrow was raw. I knew I couldn’t show emotion or I would upset the children.

I cried out to God, in my head: Help! Somehow, I knew he said, Deuteronomy 31:8. I fished out my Bible, found my way to Deuteronomy, not knowing what it might say. This is what I read: ‘The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.’

That is the motto I live by, the words on which I base my life.

I just pruned two bushes outside of my prayer window, it seems, and yet twigs already are stretching up and out again! Sunshine and showers tease a summer growth spurt, and somehow the shock of a pruning also stimulates shoots to shoot.

We live in challenging days, on many levels. Ours has been a challenging week, a week of loss and pain, a week of joy tempered by anxiety, a week in which we have felt the pruning shears of the divine gardener. Worshiping in church this morning, though, I felt joy and encouragement, surrounded by the others who are walking ‘home’ with us.

May our personal divine prunings be opportunities for spiritual growth. May we step forward in faith, not fear, inspired by the promises of our loving Lord: do not be afraid, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.