Lessons From My Garden: Pruning

Lessons from my Garden:  Pruning pink peonyI do some of my best thinking and praying while gardening.  (I really need to take some pictures of my garden instead of just macro shots of the flowers so you can see where most of my photos come from.)  I find so much peace and fulfillment when I have my hands in the dirt or am cleaning out weeds to make it a prettier place.  Ed is very gracious and lets me design and dig to my hearts content.

Lessons From My Garden  orange daylily

daylily

Earlier this week, I “wrote” an entire post about beauty and art in my head while I was working in the garden.  I think it might have been one of my best posts yet!  It had a wonderful closing sentence about God and beauty.  And then….I came into the house and got preoccupied with other things.  When I sat down later, I forget everything I had “written” while I was in the garden.  I’m going to need to start taking paper and pen out there with me.  lol  I’m hopeful that the post will reappear in my memory and that I can get it down to share here.

Lessons From My Garden gooseneck loosestrife

gooseneck loosestrife

Today, while I was out there, I was thinking about other things and I remembered to come in and write them down.  Thus, this post.

Today’s task was dead-heading the peonies. (I’m a little behind in the gardening area this year.) You could substitute the word “pruning” for dead-heading.  Pruning is used to cut away the dead or dying so that the remaining plant can grow stronger and, sometimes, bare more “fruit.”  You can also prune healthy growth in order to accomplish the same things.

Lessons From My Garden yellow snapdragon

snapdragon

My prayer as I was lopping off the old peony blooms was, “Lord, please prune from me all of the unhealthy things in my life.   Please cut away the things that keep me from growing spiritually strong and healthy.”  I love how the Bible is full of examples from everyday life that we can use for our spiritual lives.

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. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”  John 15:2-4

Lessons from my garden...pink hydrangea blooming

hydrangea

Do you garden?  Any lessons you’ve learned from gardening that you’ve applied to the rest of your life?  I’d love to hear what they are.

Have a beautiful day!

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9 thoughts on “Lessons From My Garden: Pruning

  1. Lucy

    I, too, am an avid gardener. I couldn’t help but smile about your posts “written” while gardening. It is so incredibly easy to get lost in your own thoughts while being at one with nature. I have written many a post that very same way myself! Pen and paper would be a good addition to my gardening tools!

    Reply
  2. Abby

    That happens to me all the time. I’ll be out in nature (not necessarily gardening…) and enjoying God’s creation, a great blog post comes to me, and then I lose it. I love your analogy here. Really beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  3. Deb Wolf

    Elizabeth, I sometimes wish I liked to garden. I love flowers and the beauty of summer colors, I just hate dirt. Now I know I can come over and visit your beautiful photos to get my garden fix. I have a beautiful gardenia tree this year, and we live in the woods so I enjoy green and trees much of the year.

    I write my best posts half-asleep in the middle of the night and never remember them in the morning. 🙂 Thanks so much for visiting CMB and directing me to your beautiful site.

    Reply
  4. Barbie

    I am so not a gardener. I kill living plants, really. The tending of our earthly garden so correlates with the garden of our heart. It must be pruned and cared for regularly, lest my heart becomes crowded and overgrown with weeds, chocking out all life, light and joy. This post was a blessing to me.

    Reply
  5. JES

    What gorgeous flower photos! You have a beautiful blog 🙂 Thank you for stopping by and sharing on ours via the So Much at Home Link up. I would also like to invite you to our Monday link up… The Art of Home-Making Mondays. Have a wonderful week ~ JES

    Reply
  6. Beth

    You will be happy to know I have been doing much weeding lately and actually enjoying my time out in the yard. I’ve had several comments from neighbors on how good it looks. 🙂 I even did some “dead-heading.” It really is a wonderful opportunity to be with Him. Blessings to you, Elizabeth. xoxo

    Reply
  7. Deb Wolf

    Elizabeth, I just want to share with you that I’m starting a new feature at CMB tomorrow’s link party. I’m going to feature some of my favorite finds of the week, and I will be sharing a link to this post in my section on Beauty. Thanks for inspiring me.

    Reply
  8. Jill Foley

    You and I are similar in this regard. Last night I went out for my nightly “walk” around the garden and ended up pulling out the dead leaves, pruning dead blooms and more. Nothing makes me think of God more than gardening…and weeds are such a powerful example of how quickly sin can take root in our lives. Some weeds are even deceptively beautiful, but they take away from what we planted intentionally. I could go on and on…

    loved this! I would also love to see a pic of the whole garden. : )

    Reply
  9. Michelle

    This is a beautiful post.
    I do not garden, however my mom did.
    She was an avid gardener.
    Her yard always looked so beautiful.
    This, she said, is when she was closest to God.
    She is now in a Nursing Home, and still loves beautiful plants.

    Reply

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