More Pruning Is Necessary

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. - Romans 5:3-5

My friend Cece sent me a video awhile back about how to grow an avocado plant, and it was absolutely fascinating. For those of you who know me personally, don’t worry. I’m not trying to actually grow avocados. We all know I have a black thumb. She was trying to help me with a speaking engagement I had. Anyways, I digress.

The reason this video was so fascinating was because of how counterintuitive the steps are to making an avocado plant grow.

For starters, you first have to get the seed to sprout in a glass of water. When the first few leaves start to sprout, most people make the mistake of immediately transplanting it into soil. Instead, what you’re supposed to do is, when the sprout reaches 6 inches, cut it back to three inches because that will encourage the plant to grow more. Then when the sprout gets back to six inches again, you can put it into soil.

Finally, once you place the plant into the soil, you are supposed to cut the stem back six inches every time it reaches 12 inches. Following these steps is the only surefire way to make sure the plant grows and thrives the way it’s supposed to.

I told you. Seems counterintuitive, right?

But as I watched this video, I couldn’t help but think how sometimes it feels like I’m the avocado plant and God is the gardener. I start growing a little, and He prunes me. I start thriving and developing, and He cuts me back more than I would expect.

It doesn’t ever make sense in the moment. From the outside it seems like He’s doing more harm than good. But ultimately, He’s doing what’s best for me so that I can grow and thrive the way I’m supposed to, just like the avocado plant.

So, if you’re in a season where it seems like God is doing more pruning than you think is necessary, I hope you’ll remember the avocado plant. I hope you’ll trust that God knows what He’s doing, even when it doesn’t make sense to you. And I hope that you’ll have faith that whatever pruning He deems necessary is with your best interest in mind.