Pruning is an act of preparation for greater growth

by Tales of 2Timothy1.7

Today I read this quote : « When God means to make a man great, He always breaks him in pieces first” This quote caught my attention, it’s just a few words that build one sentence but it contains so much truth.

I was born in the South where we had only two seasons, the dry season and the rainy season. Each season took about six months so I never knew winter or autumn, unless it was in the movies. I only witnessed snow for the first time when I moved here. One of my aunts told me that short after I arrived, as I was quiet young, I felt saddened to see trees that were leafless and some of them were pruned so much that they barely had any branches left. I was sad to see that as I was used to see massive forest of full green coloured trees pretty much all year around, seeing pruned trees was something I didn’t understand. Press forward to about a year ago, I went for a run to one of my favourite forest outside the city centre. As I was running, I noticed on the side of the main path, there were several branches that were pruned and set a side, they would probably be used to make fire for heating with coal. Again the first thought that came in my mind was how sad it was to see those branches be pruned and cut off. Those tree now looked almost bare naked, it was like they lost a great deal of their beauty. Wouldn’t be better if they just left the branches on the trees all year around without pruning them? I wondered.

Then I did a little researsch and realised that due to the environment those trees were in, the four seasons cycle, those trees had to be pruned in order to reach their full growth potential. If they weren’t pruned regularly some of them wouldn’t be able to grow as beautifully in the spring as they should. Because of that, they wouldn’t be able to give the fruit or flowers they aught to give because they’d have too much dead branches that would take the vitamine of the branches that should grow fully.

Lately in my life I had been through this same scenario. Luckily for us humans, our four seasons are generaly a bit broader which means that we don’t have to be pruned as much every year. Sometimes once in a life time we would be subjected to harsh pruning where a great deal of what we thought we couldn’t live without is taking away from us. This can go from the people we care for to other things such as jobs or other circumstances that changes in our lives. We find ourselves in a place or situation that we think: ‘This shouldn’t be. I can’t make it without this or that, I neeeed this or that.’

Often just like I had, we try desperately to hold on to something that has passed it’s season in our lives. Because in our little human imagination we can’t imagine a life without that person or thing. But life is so much greater than what we can comprehend and so there will be moments we have to fight for what we want to keep but sometimes holding on to something that has had its season in our life can do us more harm than good.

I had to learn the hard way, I spent this past year fighting to hold on to the branches that were no longer productive in my life. The branches that life had given me in a certain period in my life but now it was time for me to let go of it. Letting go is a tough teacher ya’ll. It’s a tough lesson that everyone has to go through someway or another in their life. But it’s only when you let go of what you are trying to hold in your hand that you make space for the new thing that life has for you.

With that being said, I decided to make it official and so:
I declare that I let go. I let go of everything that no longer serves me to my greater purpose, I let go of everything that has been weighing me back and I trust that I have done the work that I needed to do, I cleaned up my closet, I confessed, I forgave and now I let go and lookforward to the new branches, the green leaves that are coming to help me reach the best of my self. To you too, I encourage you to let go of all the things of which you know deep down that are no longer serving you. Things that are weighing you down, this can be as simple as a bad habit of smoking or can be as complex as an unhealthy relationship. Not because that person is a bad person but because you need to let go to reach your full potential. By letting go commit yourself to do this with love and kindness, so that the space that this person or thing leaves behind can be ready to receive pure new green leaves to start the spring of your life.

If you have ever had to let go of something that used to be of great importance to you, feel free to share it in the comments. Would be great to hear your feedback.

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