Some for More

Isn’t it wonderful we have a Master Gardener who does the hard work that we don’t like to do?

The Gardener who will do the tasks, which we won’t do on our own. The Gardener who knows what is the absolute best for us, and how to make it happen.

Such is the case of an apple tree.

Thinning.

The task of removing some apples, so the remaining can grow bigger, better, stronger.

For the past couple of seasons I have done it.

It kills me every time. It feels so counterproductive to everything about sowing and growing. To take what the work has been all about, then get rid of some—so that what’s left behind, will be more.

The day you give your life over to Jesus, is the day He says he will take care of the rest.

And the rest, will ALWAYS be what is best for you. And sometimes, that means removing some for more.

It is the changed jobs, the relocations, the ended relationships, the (fill in the blank), that are removed in order for us to move. Not for better bank accounts, or a tally of achievements, or social posts, or a to-do list, but for a better relationship with Him. For a deeper trust and a surer reliance. For becoming a bigger, better, stronger person of faith, that can grow in the seasons.

But let’s be honest, no one likes it. No one in their right mind enjoys the taking of/removing of/thinning of, what we have worked for. It stinks! It downright sucks, and hurts, and feels bad in every way imaginable when we’re in it. It is those times of our faith that forces us to stand on trust, not on sight. Not the easiest thing.

Trusting Jesus takes time. It takes going through, to get through.

It requires the looking back over our shoulders to see the past, when He did the very thing before. It’s the knowing that that heartache, and anger, and confusion, was replaced with growth, and comfort, and clarity. Some for more.

And it’s THERE where we have to remember time and again—when the thinning happens, it is for our own good. It won’t always feel good, but it will be for our good.

My apple trees are a journey for me. They are always in flux. I am in a constant state of learning to make them better. I want better harvests. I want bigger and better apples. I want stronger trees that will survive.

What have been past seasons of barely nibble-sized-apples, is starting to change. The lessons I am learning from others, and the tried and true ways to develop more, are working. I have to remember that, and do what works.

And so we must also remember that with God’s thinning:

What He removes from us, will be what moves us to Him. Bigger, better, stronger. Some for more.

"Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Proverbs 19:21

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Father God, thank you for the thinning in my life. I don’t like it. I don’t look forward to it. I rebel against it, but You always know what I need. Change my heart to know this. Teach me to see glimmers of Your gift, in the middle of the grievance. Thank you for ridding the some for my more.