Last year, as I was working on my Mosaic Birdbath, I paused to look across my yard and there he was! That nuisance I had been trying to get rid of for years! There he was, flaunting himself at me, again! Ok, I had had it. I decide to have a come to Jesus meeting with him. It dawned on me, as I looked across my yard, that he would make a great topiary. He wouldn’t leave. Fine. He could stay, but on my terms. I would have the final word in what we call at my house… the Taming of the Shrub!
That was a year ago. Oh, I’m sure he thought his world was ending. I treated him unmercifully to begin with. I stripped him of his bottom branches, severely cut him back to just a few leaves. I braided him. Tied him up and gave him a piece of my mind. He may not have liked it to begin with, but he does now. He has flourished! I must say, I’ve found a new love.
And isn’t this what the Lord is doing to us? He is striping us of things not productive, shaping us into something useful to His kingdom and training us to be the people he wants us to be.
He, too, probably looks across His universe and says, you can be better, Renee. And all of a sudden first this trial and then another come my way. Some so severe I thought my world was ending. I didn’t understand what was going on, but someone, who is a Master Gardener, had decided to do some work on me. And just like the plans I had for that wild plant who refused to be subdued, He’s got bigger plans for me than I ever imagined. And plans for you, too.
And as I grow and change through the trials, I become more Christlike. I’m becoming the bride he has longed for. And HE my groom, who will love me like no other. Like my little topiary, I’m growing to like the changes in me, so much better than the unruly person I had been.
Oh, Lord, thank you for teaching me, through this world you’ve blessed me with, about your love for me. And for shaping me into something useful to you…and for loving me enough to do so. I love you, too.
