Look what I found!

Yesterday was the day. The weather was perfect, not to hot not to cold, with just enough of a breeze to keep things comfortable. I went in search of my garden gloves and pruning shears. The dead wood on my crepe myrtles awaited me. I know that this tedious task must be done, if I do not cut back the deadwood on the crepe myrtles then eventually the flowering of the tree will become top heavy and the branches will droop and hang over to the ground and the flowering will be poor.

I do not know many situations in life that do not benefit from a bit of pruning. As I was whacking away at the barren straggly branches one by one I could not help but think back to the many (many, many) times over the years when I felt the painful slicing away of something in my life. I can vividly remember periods in my life where I felt like I resembled a lone stump jutting out of the ground with everything sharply pruned away. It is painful to be pruned. It is even more painful to be pruned when you can not (or will not) see the fruit that is promised. But like everything that God designs there will always be fruit, we just have to be patient and wait for it to develop and ripen in our lives. This applies to the gardens we choose to tend as well.

I received a bit of unexpected fruit yesterday as I was tending to my “pitiful” patch of land. With each branch that I loped off I was lamenting the sad and barren state of things and making plans for where I will plant my first tree or trying to find the perfect place for a mass of Black-eyed Susans when in amongst the tangles of prickly growth I was pruning rested a small delicate abandoned bird’s nest. It had been previously concealed in the camouflage of jutting branches. You could literally not see the forest for the tress. It was so well hidden in the heart of the barrenness that it did not come into my view until I began the process of pruning. It was gently cradled in the branches I was pruning away. I moved in closer to examine this tiny abandoned home and found the remains of a hatched egg. The shell discarded, left behind by the mother and child. I very carefully moved around it trying to prune away all but the base branches so as not to disturb this beautiful gift.

You see when I came upon this tiny birds nest, it was like a sweet surprise from the Lord. My tedium of pruning was transformed into a treasure hunt. God spoke to me in the pruning and said:

“You may see “barren and pitiful” but I see a beautiful tree that I have placed in your care. This tree will house many generations for one of my creations. Don’t you remember, I care for the birds of the air, I provide for there every need, how much more do I love and care for you. (MT 6:26)”

I continued on with my task and was not only blessed once but twice. For in the second tree I

began to prune I found another tiny nest resting deep within it’s branches.
God is so good, He cares for me so much that He has entrusted to me the care and feeding of a very small part of His creation.

MT 6:26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?