The Pain of Pruning and Plucking

I love flowers!  Last year I had some landscaping done that included planting several rose bushes.  I've never grown roses before so I was a little iffy about them.  This year the roses have been beautiful.  They started sprouting up huge stalks that have been producing clusters of blooms.  I've been told that I need to prune those stalks back - for the good of the bush.  I have not been able to bring myself to do it.  I decided this week that I have an unhealthy emotional attachment to my roses.  So this morning I began the pruning process.  There's a lot to be said about pruning and its benefits.  It's such a painful process but is so necessary.  I hope I can remember this the next time the Master Gardener prunes the wild and untamed stalks in my life.  And I hope I don't bite back, like that thorn that punctured my finger!  OUCH!

I've also spent the morning plucking tiny oak trees out of my flower bed.  The 50 + year old Oak Tree in my front yard produced a bumper crop of acorns this year that are now sprouting up trees - HUNDREDS of them.  This plucking process seems to be never ending.  Everyday I pluck, everyday an oak tree sprouts.  So is the way with the unwanted things of the flesh.  If I do not pluck away everyday the acorns of unholiness, my life will be overrun by tiny little saplings that will develop deep roots. 

Today has been a lesson about pruning and plucking away those things that will overtake my life if left unchecked.  I'm glad my Gardener is gentle and patient.  This garden needs a lot of work!