Update:
My daughter, Ruth and her husband, Cody arrived home from Chicago about
10 p.m. on Thursday night. They got to
sleep in and after they did some of their things, Ruth and I went to do my
grocery shopping. Prior to me injuring
my foot almost two years ago, I did all of the grocery shopping for the family
each week. The kids took over from me
until they moved out. Since then it has
mainly been my wife, Karen, doing the shopping.
Now with greater mobility with my wheelchair, I can go in and pick up a
few items, but I really can’t get everything that we need for a week by
myself. And even if I did, I’d never be
able to get them up the ramp and into the house by myself. So Ruth and I spent a little father/daughter
time and we did the shopping for Karen (Sam’s, Festival, & Weaver’s). I decided to wheel myself around the stores
instead of using the motorized chairs from the store. I wanted to get a bit of exercise while I was
out; in hind sight I should have used their chairs and saved my strength. I was bushed after we got done.
We rushed home and dumped the groceries out and immediately went in to
Eau Claire for dinner with all the kids and their spouses (David’s wife and my
wife, Karen, couldn’t come). We had a
great meal and had a lot of fun together at Green Mill Restaurant.
Ruth and then Joshua helped video record me loading and unloading my
wheelchair out of the pickup truck (my vehicle). We actually did a second take of loading the
chair because the first time the sun was at the wrong angle and I slammed the
chair into the side of the truck instead of getting it in the door. It’s always more difficult with an
audience! Maybe I should make a blooper
reel with my next video?
After dinner I came home and worked at putting the food away that we
had dumped in the kitchen, got the video ready, and it was time for this tired
puppy to get into bed.
Thought for the Day:
The bible uses many images to help us understand how God works in our
lives. One of those images is that of a
vineyard. Jesus says that He is the vine
and we are the branches, and the Father is gardener carrying for the vine.
John 15:1-2 “I am
the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 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.”
So as the vinedresser or gardener, God the Father cuts away the branches
that aren’t fruitful and prunes back the fruitful branches so that they will
bear even more fruit. As Jesus describes
it, God wants our lives to be fruitful—as fruitful as they can be. That means that God has to trim us back and
shape us in just the right way on occasion.
I imagine that pruning is not a comfortable process from the plant’s point
of view. “Hey, I worked hard to grow
that! What are you doing? Just leave me alone! I was doing fine without your interference…”
“Sometimes our suffering is a pruning process. As with the vinedresser, God removes not the
bad things, but the good things that are keeping us from the better and the
best. The vinedresser cuts away excess
wood and leaves so that the vine may produce choice fruit. Suffering is not always punishment for sins,
in spite of what Job’s friends may say.
Sometimes our suffering is a pruning experience, during which God
carefully removes GOOD things so that may become more useful to Him and to
others” [Waren Wiersbe, Looking Up When Life Gets You Down].
So when things in our lives go wrong or are painful—perhaps it isn’t
without purpose. Knowing that God may
have out His pruning shears sniping away at our lives helps make those times
more bearable. Knowing that suffering is
not just a random event, but is something that it is planned and will lead to
me being better than I could ever be without it, helps me accept it more
gratefully.
I’ll end this with my personal example.
I never would have chosen to have my leg amputated but I realize that I
am a better pastor having gone through the experience. I have a better understanding of people going
through the recovery process. I am much
more empathetic and sympathetic than I used to be. I am more patient with people and events. I’ve learned to view more things as
inconsequential in the scope of things.
So in a multitude of ways, the pruning that I’ve undergone has made me a
better person. I see the benefit of what
has occurred and I am grateful for the change.
I must admit that at the time, I couldn’t see it as clearly as I do
now.
With that said, I want to encourage you that no matter what you are
experiencing—remember that to achieve the better and the best you have to give
up the good. Pruning seems harsh and at
the time destroys the beauty of the plant—but eventually the plant recovers and
produces a more fruitful growth. And
that my friends, is well worth the experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment