Laced With Grace

My husband is currently reading a book by Dr. Henry Cloud entitled, “Necessary Endings”. He pointed out a chapter in the book to me about pruning. Even though the book is referring to the necessity of pruning in business at times, the same concept is just as imperative in our spiritual being. The book defines pruning as…

“removing whatever it is in our business or life whose reach is unwanted or superfluous.”

When I think about pruning, I think about a bonsai tree. As the tree grows, the pruner must be careful and intricate about cutting the branches to develop the correct size and shape. What is interesting about the bonsai tree is that even if the branches are healthy, if they are going in the wrong direction, one other than what was planned, the branch would have to be cut. Pruning such a tree takes much patience. Sometimes it may take decades for the plant to become exactly what the pruner wants. Even when it becomes exactly how it should be, it still will need some maintenance pruning from time to time, as long as the plant is still alive.

Spiritually speaking, we can all be compared to a Bonsai tree. Except, God is the perfect pruner, ever so patiently clipping, cutting and forming as He desires. He started the pruning process with each of us as small seeds. He has steadily watched us grow and along the way He has had to cut off unhealthy branches from time to time. Sometimes, He has even had to cut away what seems to me to be healthy branches. Such branches that were healthy but just not growing in the direction that He had planned.

With each pruning stage, whether it is with a Bonsai tree or with our spirit man, it all has a purpose. The purpose of pruning a Bonsai tree is to show off the patience and care of the pruner, the same could be said about the pruning that God does for us. His purpose in pruning us is not to bring hardship or heartache, in fact, without His pruning we could not become the masterpiece that He has planned for us to be.

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” (John 15:2).

Have you felt some pruning in your life in 2011? I have and it hasn’t always been easy, but as I reflect back over the past year I can see areas that needed to be clipped, tweaked and cut away. When I allow God to be the master pruner of my life, it is then that I can see purpose in it. I pray that in the new year 2012, that each of us will allow purposeful pruning to take place in our lives and in our hearts.

Happy Pruning! I mean…Happy New Year!

It is a classic. How the Grinch stole Christmas.

We have all read Dr. Seuss’s book to our children and watched the movie on television. The story about the funny looking green guy who gets so annoyed at the people from Who-ville, so annoyed at their joy, laughter and Christmas spirit that he decides that he is going to take all of the fun right out of their Who-ville spirit and steal away their Christmas. He had the notion that if he stole their presents, their trees, their decorations and food that all of the Who’s in Who-ville would have nothing left to celebrate. They would have no joy. No fun. No Christmas spirit.

But the Grinch didn’t understand what Christmas spirit was, now did he?

It isn’t about getting presents, or dressing up in our finest red dresses. It isn’t about the tinsel, the lights or even the star on the tree. It isn’t about singing carols, going on sleigh rides or drinking hot chocolate on a cold night. Christmas spirit is not what we DO, or what we SAY or even what we BRING. Christmas spirit is what we KNOW!

“And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at His birth!” LUKE 1:14

Even though the Grinch stole all of their “things”, the one thing he could not steal was what was in their hearts.

We may think that there aren’t any real Grinches in this world, but we are wrong. We all have to contend with a Grinch that not only attempts to steal our Christmas spirit but every day, 365 days a year, 12 months a year, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, there is a Grinch who tries to steal our spirit of Christ! One who seeks to steal, kill and destroy! (John 10:10)

Just like Dr. Suess’s Grinch stole presents, the Grinch I am thinking of, the enemy, also tries to steal our presents. God has given each of us special talents and gifts. The enemy hates that. It disgusts him. It really, really annoys him to see us use our gifts for Gods glory. So what does he do? He packs up his sled and gives it his best shot to take away what God has given us. He will not relent until he has stripped us of every thing that God has bestowed upon us.

He knows that taking our cars, our homes and our clothes will not be as devastating as losing our kids, our spouses, our hope, our faith and yes even our spirit. He tries to use every trickery in his bag to get us to lose our joy, lose our smile, lose our faith, lose our trust in people and in God.

But when we put our hope and trust in God, there is nothing that can shake us. We may lose our material things, but no-one, and I mean NO-ONE, not even the enemy, can rob us of what lives in our heart and our soul. Nobody can steal Christmas when Christmas lives within our hearts.

May you experience the joy of our Savior this Christmas and in all the days to come. He IS joy and that is something that no Grinch can steal!

Thanksgiving was 4 days ago and if you are like me, you are still eating on the leftovers! Let’s see…first, there were turkey sandwiches, then turkey soup, then turkey casserole and now today, warmed up turkey, dressing and potatoes! Turkey, turkey, turkey and more turkey!

I have seriously had my fill of leftovers.

Somehow by the 4th day it just isn’t as exciting as it was on Thursday! I’m kind of tired of having nothing but leftovers.

I not only get that way around the holidays, but my spirit man also tires of leftovers. A few years ago, my husband was overworked, underpaid, stressed and frustrated at his job. While he was at his job during the day he gave 120 percent, doing everything he could to resolve issues, be kind to others, even do his work and the work of others but by the time he came home from work it seemed like all the children and I would get was his leftovers. You know how we get when we are tired, cranky and just downright stressed.  While he gave his best at work, he brought home the overloaded stress to us which didn’t always come across as his best.

Leftovers are not always as appealing as they once were. The salivating over the roasted turkey has diminished some from Thursday to Monday. Spiritually speaking, when we give less than our best, when we give our leftovers to others, we also lose our sweet aroma.

God wants our best to not just be yesterdays menu. He wants our best to be renewed each and every day. Sometimes we worry about tomorrow, so we try to live on what we have today or what we had yesterday. The children of Israel worried that hunger would overtake them while in the wilderness. After much grumbling and complaining, God finally told Moses to tell the people that Manna would rain down from heaven every day to feed them.

 EXODUS 16:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. “

But there was a catch…

The people could only take enough Manna for the day, no extra. On the Sabbath day, God would double the food gathered the day before so that the Sabbath day could be observed and they still have plenty. In His attempt to teach them faithfulness, the children of Israel were not all quick learners. Some worried there would not be enough for tomorrow so they took more than their share. They took leftovers. But the manna literally grew old and rotted if more than the allotted share was taken.

God did not need them to live on leftovers. His bread was new each and every morning. He wanted them to trust Him for their daily bread. Likewise, He does not want us to live on leftover experiences either. Yesterday’s blessing was for yesterday, TODAY God has something new for us!

LAMENTATIONS 3:22″Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.”

Too many times I think we come to the Lord’s table still eating the crumbs from yesterday. Our testimony seems to be about what God DID instead of what He is DOING! One of the reasons that I think that we give our leftovers to others is because we are still living on the leftovers of our yesterdays. It is time to partake of the fresh Bread of Life that He offers us TODAY!

Aren’t you tired of living on leftovers?