Learning to Embrace the Pruning…

Goodness…it’s been a while since I’ve posted a blog. This is a new thing I’ve experienced over the past couple of years…Embracing silence. Silence has never been my strong point 😂, but learning to dwell in the moment instead of making sure the moment is logged in the halls of social media — halls that will, sooner or later, fall and be remembered no more — well, it’s actually very nice 🥰. I do have a thought now, though, that feels sweet to share…

If you followed me a little on Facebook last year, you will remember that I went through a stretch when I just wanted to talk about my hydrangeas all the time.

Well..here I am again! And once again — even though they are just barely beginning for the season — I’m AMAZED by them, along with the spiritual significance they seem to have in me.

When we moved into this house in February three years ago, there were these pretty green bushes. I had no clue what they were, because I have the furthest thing from a green thumb. Yet, I was satisfied because they were simple and pretty. However, when Summer got started, I felt so blessed because they weren’t just pretty green bushes. They were the absolute favorite flower… hydrangeas🥰.

It made me cry. It’s not just that I feel like God was saying we moved to the right place. That could be it. It was more than I felt like he loved my details!☺️

So, you can imagine my horror when, at the beginning of winter in 2024, my husband cut them completely to the ground. Now, those of you who are green thumbs know immediately that that was actually a good call… but not only did I not know that, he didn’t know that. I was so mad. My beautiful gift could possibly not have grown back. 

Of course they ultimately did, and I did have to give my husband credit because they came back more beautiful than the year before…and this is what led to my summer 2025 blogs on these beauties.

You want to know what’s funny, though

When he cut them down again this winter, I got mad again. The fear that they would not come back flew all over me, and I made a little scene about it 😆. Praise God, I have a patient husband!🤦🏻‍♀️😂

I did have to go back to my quiet corner and reason with myself… if they came back so beautiful before, why would they not again? AND why was I so afraid so quickly when I knew that even if they did not come back, there would be a fresh opportunity to plant something new?!

Thus is my spiritual life…I ask these questions about the pruning that God allows, both to dead and to healthy branches. Why am I so afraid?!

Simply put, there is a lack of faith in me…not believing Him to be the perfect Gardener and the Lover of my soul who does love my details, but also sees what details are best for me. 

This past weekend…A Heart Refined hosted its eighth retreat, and there were more hiccups than I would like to admit, but one thing I know, which came directly from His heart, is that we grow in Him when we take the opportunities He plants in front of us to believe Him to be who He says He is. 

“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 does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit…“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John‬ ‭15‬:‭1‬-‭2‬, 5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myXX5Yw26w4