| FOOD FOR THOUGHT - Insights (4) |
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| INSIGHTS | ||
Personal experiences which have provoked thought - and created or reinforced particular insights about our lives in God's world.
In this example, one of our church members recounts an instance when she received a special insight of how God faithfully continues to prune and enrichen us to grow closer to Him. BEING PRUNED. | ||
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We recently attended "Gardeners' Question Time", a locally organised event to raise money for the repairs to Knutsford Methodist Church's tower. We found it very amusing at times and certainly very informative. Gardening is not our passion - more a case of just keeping the garden tidy; so we went to listen and hopefully learn a few new tips.
After some questions which seemed to have the same answer - i.e. one particular product seemed to cure all ills - the subject turned to plants and the pruning thereof. It was explained that if the plant wasn't pruned, the leaves/dead flowers would drop, rot around the root and then feed the plant. This would then, hopefully, produce beautiful flowers or foliage. The process would then begin all over again. However, if the plant was pruned by hand it would be necessary to begin artificial feeding immediately to maintain its life. The next morning, at Bible-Study, the discussion turned to the divine pruning, as explained by Jesus in John 15 v 1-17. This suddenly turned my mind to what we had learnt the evening before. God, in His gentle way, prunes us as we do our plants. He carefully cuts away the withered branch, the branch which doesn't bear fruit, the parts of us which are of no use, the parts which don't bring glory to Him - our anger, our laziness, our lovelessness… But, once pruned, He doesn't walk away and leave us to die. He continues to feed us through His Word - the Bible - through the still small voice, through the voices of others... Sometimes the pruning is painful but, however it is done, it is always necessary. |
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| God won't change us into somebody else; once a plant, always a plant; once a Dorothy, always a Dorothy. We will still have our basic natures but God will nurture us to become more and more like Him; changing our attitudes, our thoughts, and our desires until we are in tune with Him.
Dorothy R
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