I love to garden.  My thumb isn’t as green as I would like it to be, but I treasure the quiet moments to sit in the sun and spend some time turning the earth.  This week was no exception.  With the warmer weather I ventured to my backyard to see how my fruit trees were faring.

There were several branches that needed trimming.  I really should have trimmed them in February, but for one reason or another time escaped me and it didn’t happen.  So, there I was, me and my trimmers.  I knew that I shouldn’t trim much.  After all, it was the wrong season. But, the apricot tree was getting too tall for me to manage it, the peach trees branches were hanging too low, and surely I should get rid of the branches that were decaying and not helping to add to the overall health of the trees.  So whack and trim I did.  When I found myself slowing down, I thought, “Just a little more…”  and then again, “Arg!  Just a little more!” “Oh! I better get these little ones, they can’t be good.” By the time I had nit picked over each tree, I finally gave in and decided it was enough.

Do we sometimes feel like we are being pruned in the wrong season?   Do we feel trimmed too much at one time, with what may feel as, “Let me whack a little more!”  Do we feel nit picked at each and every tiny branch of our trunk thinking, “What!,” “just a little more?”  I reflected, that truthfully, even those little branches that have decayed and seem unimportant, have added in their small way to the tree, much like every experience, every hurt, and every happiness has contributed to my own trunk.

I remembered, “I am the gardener here.  I know what I want you to do.”  (D. Todd Christopherson April 2011 General Conference)  I know that cutting and pruning the tree will help it to grow and develop as it should. So also does the Master Gardner cut and prune as He sees fit to help us grow into what He truly wants for us.  “God prunes us when He is about to take us into a new season of growth and expansion.” (Christine Caine)

I’m eager for the Spring, for the growth it brings and the expansion of new life and new possibilities.  Most of all, I’m thankful for The Gardner.