...With a Currant Bush

As a man went about cleaning up and repairing his property, he came across a currant bush that had grown over six feet high and was yielding no berries, so he pruned it back drastically, leaving only small stumps. Then he saw a drop like a tear on the top of each of these little stumps, as if the currant bush were crying, and thought he heard it say: “How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. … And now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me. … How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”

The man replied, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’” (As Many as I love, I Rebuke and Chasten)

"A nice story," you may think, or maybe you're are thinking "What is up with this weird story about a talking bush?" But this story has had quite the impact on me these last few weeks. 

God is the gardener. We are the bush. How many times have you felt your life cut apart, and the things you care about thrown in the compost pile? It's not a very joyful experience. However, think about something you did or said ten years ago. I'd venture to say that you'd do or say that completely different now. Why? Cause like that currant bush we all get cut down but the Gardener  know what's in store for us. He sees that by trimming us here and there he sets us up for a better, glorified future.