I'm going through a growth spurt. And I didn't see it coming. I feel like an awkward, gangly, overly aware teenager who's trying to figure out how to manage all of these new changes. I'm going to call this phase of my life - bear with me now - 'spiritual puberty'. In the same way that the body decides to go through this process whenever it's ready, I think that God decided that I was ready. And as it goes, I've gone through more spiritual changes in the last 3 months than I thought possible in that amount of time. And while I'm more than thankful to be in this transition period, I'm also exhausted from all the change. The world looks different. I look different. I feel different.
I am well aware of the fact that growth and change are life-long processes. We grow in different ways at different points in our lives, and many times we don't even notice the change until it's already happened. Yet I'm just now beginning to realize that at some point, successful growth requires some pruning; cutting away dead areas so that new life can flourish. And proper pruning requires discernment, which means listening to the gardener who has the better perspective on what's really going on in this intricate, interwoven bush we call a life. Often we are being instructed on how to prune - sometimes in small ways (little branches here and there), but sometimes in scary ways that don't always make sense at first (usually these are the big dead branches that you've become so accustomed to that you don't know what life will look like without them there and are often reluctant to get rid of).
Pruning requires a willingness to let go; to trust that what we've been strongly suggested to cut off is really for our benefit - in order that we may do what we were originally created to do: bear fruit.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 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 15:1-4
Sidenote: I've also started a new blog. Not abandoning this one, but definitely enjoying the creative options that Tumblr has to offer.
"Anything that's not growing is dead"
-Lauryn Hill
