9 September 2020

Oh every muscle in my body is aching. I don’t know what’s more comfortable, standing or sitting.  Possibly lying down. It reminds me watching cartoons where the cartoon character hits their hand and the hand goes bigger then smaller, bigger then smaller, indicating a pulsation that is causing pain. That’s what was happening to me in my hands, my back, my knees…….

Yes, I laugh too, like in a cartoon. I thought I was able to dig up easily 20-year-old rose plants and transplant them. After half an hour digging, chopping, shovelling, pushing, using a pick, doing anything to disengage the old roots I had successfully dug up ONE tree. Only 5 more to go!!!!!

I had to stop and start. Not just because I was not fit and I needed to relieve my muscles, but also to survey the bushes roots to assess what else needed to be done to release them from the soil they were entrenched in.

In one of my “refreshment minutes” I thought of areas in my life where I was so entrenched in my own ways, my old habits that I would need a lot of chopping, digging up to move me.

God is kinder on us in chopping things up or moving areas out of our life compared to me literally HACKING at the rose roots (especially the more I did).

To be honest, the more stubborn the roots, the longer I was digging at them and the more frustrated I became and the less care I took in getting them out of there. You can picture it. A hot and bothered woman, dirt and mud (it had rained just yesterday) all over her work clothes trying to get these ROSE BUSHES OUT!!!!!!!

Oh dear. If God treated me like that, how hacked up would I be? If He got frustrated with me because I was resistant to change, to altering my perspective, my habits for the better how damaged would the outcome be?  I would not easily be transplanted for I would be so bruised. That’s what often happens in the way people in the world treat us but NEVER OUR GOD!

Our God is gracious, drawing us to Him with love. Love encompasses every aspect of what He does. What does it say in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7?  We may have heard it often quoted at weddings.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 Cor 13:4-7 NIV

I love the description in the Amplified Version

⁴ Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. ⁵ It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. ⁶ It does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail]. 

⁷ Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening].

⁸ Love never fails [it never fades nor ends]. 

1 Cor 13:4-8 AMP

This God who is LOVE, digs away at us with kindness, chops into our hearts with his hope, cuts out dead areas in our lives, restores us, nourishes us, fertilises us, prunes us.

When He prunes an area in our life, He only does it for our good so we can BEAR MORE FRUIT.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

John 15:1-2 (Blog continues below)

The correlation between God “working “on us and me “working” on the rosebush hit home to me when I started talking to it (Yes, I did).

“Rosebush it’s for your good that I am moving you. The area that you were planted in years ago is now no longer beneficial. You’ve grown so much so that the brick wall in front of you is hindering your growth. Your roots are getting so twisted and root-bound that you no longer have the space to hold soil and water and it can lead to death.  So, you need not only to be moved but you need to be pruned so as to bear new and better and more blooms.”

When the rose bush pricked me and drew blood, I thought of the many times I have pricked God with my sin.  I thought of the times where I have hurt Him because I did not want to change, or was unforgiving… I thought of the blood that Jesus bore for us, for our wrongdoings.

He did not kick us (like I kicked the rosebush). No, he called out to His Father in heaven.

“Forgive them, they know not what they do”

Oh what LOVE.

This ‘gardening day’ took on a whole different perspective. The Holy Spirit used it to talk to me about me.

So, when I am at work and I’m trying to MOVE a group of workers to a new level, how do I do it? Am I kind and do I use my skills as a communicator, or do I just shovel them to where I want them to be?

Am I patient and kind at home? Do I realise that in all of us there are areas that need moving, fixing, changing and that I need to be open, first, to me being changed?

Do I allow my Father the gardener to cut and prune me?

Do I even listen to the Holy Spirit guide me?

You may ask how do I hear the Holy Spirit?

Firstly, ask Him to talk. Tell Him you are open to listening, open to hearing what He may have to say to you.

Secondly give Him your time. Put aside a few minutes of your day and just be quiet before the Lord. Give Him a chance to talk.

Thirdly be patient and kind to yourself.  It is a learning thing. Your spiritual ear becomes more sensitive the more you give Him time.

Fourthly as you develop the ‘listening ear’ you will hear Him speak to you even in the unusual circumstances of pruning and digging up rose bushes, but you need to STOP and listen. Give yourself time to reflect on what happened and what was said. Use the reflection to then decide to change. Decide to work on the stuff in your life that the Holy Spirit brings up. God does not always come to you when you are free or have given Him time. He is not a puppet, but He does notice you and will respond in His perfect timing.

THE BLESSING is He does NOT expect us to work on this ALONE. He is always with us, infusing us with His Love. Pruning us so we can BEAR MORE FRUIT.

Oh what a God we serve.

May these jottings from my journal inspire you to believe in and fall in love with Christ- the hope of the world, as stated in Jeremiah 17:7, ‘Blessed is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the Lord and whose hope and confident expectation is the Lord!’

Love

Rosemary

Every week groups of ladies meet together to chat about the things I raise in my weekly blog post and to chat about life in general. We call these ‘Heart Connect’ groups. If you would like more information please click HERE.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Do I allow my Father the gardener to cut and prune me?

Do I listen to the Holy Spirit guide me?

Am I patient and kind at home? Do I realise that in all of us there are areas that need moving, fixing, changing and that I need to be open, first, to me being changed?