The Joy of Pruning

Pruning. Does the word bring up good thoughts or negative? Many gardeners dread this task…it’s tedious, it’s unfamiliar, we question if we’re doing it correctly, the mess it creates, and so on. Ultimately, I think we begin to wonder if it’s even a necessary task!

But for those of us who do it regularly, we get to see the benefits of pruning and that’s what convinces us to keep doing it.

All it takes is a little faith in the unseen to know that it will bring growth and beauty. There are many gardening tasks that require faith. Here are a few:

· Planting a seed and trusting the process that it will grow into the plant it promises to be.

· Pruning will produce a healthier plant.

· Planting a fruit tree with faith that it will produce fruit.

· Throwing discards in the compost trusting that it will turn into black gold.

I think this ‘faith’ is one of the reasons that gardening is so rewarding. You get to see the beautiful results over and over again! But you also have to be willing to see it too.

And if we took this a step further and compared this to life…well, that may take much longer, but the principles remain the same. Let me explain.

· Growth happens when we invest in ourselves (not spa or nails) but soul stuff.

· Soul-pruning happens during challenging times whether we notice it or not.

· Maturity and wisdom are the fruit of 1 & 2.

· All the lessons from the soul-pruning get turned into soul-rich lives.

You may say, but, Leslie, I’m not good at gardening. Yes, yes, this may be true but let’s look at a few reasons why gardens fail to thrive: plant is in the wrong placement, lack of time to tend to the garden, not observing the garden daily, over/under water, weeds and bugs take over, and more.

That’s a lot to consider when we think we’re not good at something. Honestly, it takes time.

Growth happens one day at a time. No matter what season you find yourself today, I hope you can choose to see the growth.

Many blessing,

Leslie

The Joy of Pruning

Pruning Curly Willow