But we *do* know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to purpose. Romans 8:28 (Darby)
Several weeks ago, landscapers trimmed my hedges but also scalped flowers along my patio. I fumed about the damage they did to flowers I had enjoyed each morning when I sat on my patio. I cringed each time I saw the mutilated plants.
Little by little green leaves covered stubby stems. Buds opened with white, yellow and orange blooms. Bees returned to sample nectar.
When I ventured outside to pull weeds and carefully prune plants, surprises awaited. Mutilated greenery grew back fuller. Seeds dropped and produced an abundance of new ones. In fact, they overpowered many of those I had planted.
For an hour, I pulled out excess plants and trimmed back overgrown stems so that smaller plants could thrive. Reluctantly, I admitted that the distressing pruning didn’t cause lasting harm. My annoyed reaction gave way to an appreciation of a more lovely garden.
Unwelcome pruning comes into lives too. Loved ones pass away. Relationships are severed. Jobs disappear. Comfortable lives fill with uncertainty and pain. Anguish, loneliness and loss follow intense pruning.
Like my flower garden, the altered life often contains surprises of beauty, joy and growth. What we initially see as complete destruction can be used by God to create an improved masterpiece.
Loving Father, when we feel life is falling apart, you can take the pieces and weave them into something beautiful. Amen
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