As I’ve been walking around recently, I’ve begun to notice how many of the beautiful looking trees that I see have had their share of pruning along the way. Many time they didn’t end up looking the way they do on their own. Rather, when I look closely, I can see where branches and shoots were taken off at one time or another. These removals may not be obvious at first glance, but at some point, someone had carefully snipped off parts of the tree for various reasons. And although the tree had once lost something in the short-term, these losses ended up contributing to its beauty and strength in the long-term.
In our own lives, this too can happen. Like a tree, we may go through times when we feel like we’re being pruned. Things in life may be suddenly changed or altered, or we may reach a place where there are things we need to let go of. But unlike a tree, sometimes we can have a choice in the matter. Although there are many things that we have no control over, there are other times when we have the choice to let go of something willingly. And regardless of whether we had a choice in the matter initially, we always get to choose how we’ll respond.
Undergoing pruning can be difficult at the time, but the removal of the extraneous things that can crowd up our lives can actually lead to a stronger more beautiful life down the road.