Briefly...

I've written and re-written this post over and over again, usually in my head while I'm driving, out for a run, or otherwise engaged away from the keyboard.  When I do finally sit down in front of my computer, the screen stares back at me just as blankly as I stare at it.  While away from the desk my ideas grow and grow, but sitting here I doubt.  I'll therefore keep this brief, and over the next few days try to set down in smaller bites that which is stirring in my heart.


Our recent holiday break ended up being more painful than pretty.  Returning to the "normal routine" has been a constant reminder.

"How was your holiday?"

"Heart-revealing, and yours?"

When God calls a Time Out from Normal and rends open a heart which needs airing-out, it's painful.  One way that Scripture refers to this process is as pruning— picture sharp blades here.

"I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit."  John 15:1-2

Pruning, while it hurts, is necessary.  I have no doubt that I am connected to the True Vine.  I figured that I was producing fruit, and I was.  And yet the Vinedresser has other plans for my fruit production which require pruning, that my fruit would improve, increase, or both.

The effect which this has had on me has been to cause me to examine more closely the expectations I've been carrying about.  There's more to that than will fit into this post, but then, there's more to everything these days, it seems.  By God's grace I have continued to move forward when I have been tempted to retreat.  I'm a little tender in spots, and I may be walking with a bit of a "spiritual limp".  I'm now examining my own assumptions more closely, while holding to my Lord for strength and stability.

This too is for my good, and will reveal more fully His glory.