(Inspired by a Talk from Hugh B. Brown)
The gardener walked among the rows
along his garden wall,
and noticed a large current bush
sanding proud, and tall.
With shears in hand he went to work,
this gardener, oh so wise,
and pruned the current bush down to
about one tenth it’s size.
A bush that once was mighty,
now cut down stem by stem
and the gardener carefully listened
as the bush cried out to him..
“Just look what you have done to me.
I used to stand so tall.
You’ve cut me down into a stump,
I’m nothing now at all.
To others in the garden
what laughter I shall bring.
I thought you were the gardener.
How could you do this thing?”
‘I am the gardener little bush,
and though you don’t yet see,
I cut you down so you’ll become
all you were meant to be’.
‘I know it’s hard, The gardener said,
but I did it for your good.
You’ve stopped producing fruit,
and are nothing more than wood.
You now have the potential
to become all you can be.
Rise up now, and bear great fruit
for all the garden to see.
The days rolled into weeks and months,
and how that bush did grow.
Beautiful blossoms turned to fruit,
covering it, high and low.
And as the gardener walked the rows
It came as no surprise
to see the current bush he’d pruned
now several times the size.
“You’ve made me happy current bush.
I could not ask for more.
Yours is the best and sweetest fruit
that you have ever bore.”
A very grateful current bush,
remembering grief expressed,
Cried, ‘Master, please forgive me.
How wisely you have blessed.
You stripped me of my useless pride.
Cut me down, so I could see.
The wisdom of your pruning
made me all that I can be.”
In the garden of our lives,
we have a Gardener too.
He’s God, our Heavenly Father,
and He cares for me and you.
During times of great despair,
when everything seems wrong,
be patient and have faith,
for it is trials that make us strong.
Our Master knows what’s best for us,
though we don’t always see;
Sometimes in life we need cut down
to become all we can be!
