I Am a Worth More Girl - Amanda

Pruned for Good

There are so many different seasons in life, and right now I’m in the pruning season, painfully learning how to honor people who do not treat me with the respect that I give them. I’m learning how to go the extra-mile for someone who doesn’t deserve another foot. I’m truly understanding that grace is never earned. Instead it demands to be given away to the seemingly ineligible.

Yesterday I was reading my “Cultivate” devotional/magazine, and one of the writers discussed a time that he learned about pruning from an orange grove farmer. He explained that, “many young orange trees must be exhaustively pruned for the first few years of their lives to ensure maturity and to sustain long-term growth.”

Pruning, from the outside, looks cruel: branches are being cut off, making it practically impossible to bear fruit. I’ve been feeling the pain, heartache, and disappointment this past couple of months or so. All I’ve been longing for is to bear big ripe fruit for my good Father, yet my branches are barren.

Would a loving Father prevent fruition?

I have the hope that my pain is not useless in this season of my life. My good Father is pruning me to sustain immense life-long growth. His cuts aren’t frivolous; they’re planned and necessary. He doesn’t leave me alone; He stays beside me until the pain has passed. A young orange tree will actually die prematurely if it is not pruned. In all honesty, what kind of loving Father would avoid pruning just to get some fruit for only one season?

So here I have planted my roots. Humbled, I will stand tall with my barren branches until it is time for Spring. There may be no fruit visible, yet I will continue to grow. I am daring to be pruned, pruned for good.

​-Written By: Amanda
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