Jay D Weaver's Thought for the Week - does your life require some pruning

Does Your Life Require Some Pruning?

Time to Prune

Several painters showed up this morning to paint our exterior walls. One of them said he needed to prune some limbs off a tree that were in his way. I loaned him my pruning shears and in a few minutes the problem was solved. I used to do a lot of tree pruning, something that is necessary to have a beautiful and productive tree. This event caused me to think about how much pruning trees is like the pruning required in our own lives. There are a number of reasons for pruning trees and shrubs.

Pruning away dead and weak branches: These are the branches that are totally unproductive and ruin the beauty of the tree. I suppose the weakest branch I pruned from my life was when I gave up cigarettes 15 years ago. Although I derived a great deal of instant gratification from the habit, I finally realized how much it was harming me and those around me. I'm now working on changing my eating habits. Overeating of rich foods has ruined my appearance and is ruining my health. This one is requiring a lot of pruning: rich desserts, sauces, spreads, and most of all my favorite food, ice cream.

Eliminating Crossing Branches: Crossing branches cause damage to the limbs and introduce disease to the tree. How often have we had to make decisions about conflicting activities? These are usually good activities. It is hard to decide which one to eliminate. The biggest one I eliminated was my chosen profession when I retired. Fortunately there were other branches ready to grow and fill in the gap. I am now in the process of deciding on some things to prune out so that other choices may grow. I have always believed that whatever I do, I must make a full commitment to that activity. That philosophy has caused many activities to come into conflict.

Shortening branches that have become too long: If limbs of a tree become too long, they interfere with other trees, and they become susceptible to breakage when storms rage. Sometimes we get in over our heads in some activity. Then it is time to cut it back. I often find that well-meaning people give me compliments on my activities. This often drives me to go beyond my level of incompetence. I have had to learn when to say "no", simply because I know that I really am not capable of performing some task. Others often make this difficult.

Opening the center to let in the light: Especially fruit trees require this drastic measure. Good fruit production requires an open center. This is the most difficult pruning job of them all, because it essentially involves cutting out the thing we love most. I think of Jesus' command to the Rich Young Ruler, when he told him to "Sell all you have, and give the proceeds to the poor." I can think of many "idols" in my own life that prevent me from achieving real objectives. Most of them are too private to share here. You know what they are in your own lives. Most of us never cut out enough from the heart of our lives to really let the sun in fully. I suppose the important thing is that we keep trying.

These are just a few thoughts from one who used to do a lot of tree pruning. Now my shears mostly lie there rusting. Occasionally they come out when someone needs to borrow them. I hope that I can continue to keep my "life activities" pruning shears from rusting. It is autumn in my life, and there is a lot of pruning to do. Snip, snip, snip,....

Return to Essays & Papers Index