Flowers and Weeds
And every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it,
that it may bring forth more fruit. John 15:2b
Flowers vs. Weeds
Did you know that a flower can be a weed and a weed can also be a flower. Sometimes, a flower can be identified as a weed simply because it is growing in the wrong place. And because by its very definition a weed is an “unwanted flower”, the most admirable flower in the world can still be labeled a weed.
For example, a beautiful sweet fragranced red rose, growing in the middle of an herb garden in all of its God given glory is still known as a weed if it is growing in the midst of a flourishing herb garden simply because it does not belong there. Yet, we would never look at the rose in an herb garden and declare that it is an herb. What the plant is has already been determined by our sovereign God who created it.
We have all behaved as weeds at some time or another in our lives, inviting and making ourselves at home in places that we just did not belong, places where God did not create for or instruct us to be. But when we placed our faith in Jesus and gave our lives to Him, we encountered His saving grace. Then, the master gardener, God, who is our Father began His perfect and cultivating work in our lives (John 5:1-2).
Cultivated Flowers
God’s cultivation process involves His placing us like precious flowers into the gardens that He desires to see us in. Gardens that He created for us. We are not meant to behave as wild weeds, choosing to be fed, developed and nourished in just any place. As we learn to trust, submit to and follow God’s will for our lives, we begin to understand that we do not control where He plants and grows us. Nor can we afford to try to be in control of the when, what and where of the growing process in God’s plan for our lives. God does not think like us and His ways are not at all like ours. His ways and thoughts are far higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). His divine ordination assigns us to specific places and positions in time for specific reasons. While these places and positions can sometimes seem extremely challenging, painful, difficult or confusing, God’s intentions for them are lovingly strategic and purposeful. It is in the details of our placement that God develops us into who He created us to be. His purpose and blessing are both providentially being advanced in our marriages, parenting, family relationships, roles in church ministry, friendships and work.
We can study how the gardener plants and cultivates. If growth has occurred, he still prunes the productive branches even though they were fruitful. He prunes them to encourage further growth and to increase fruitfulness. This is a process that looks like the cultivation process that God takes every believer through. Even though we are fruitful, God will remove the unproductive branches that are in our lives because they drain and hinder us. Again, God positions us, as believers, to prune us, that is to remove the thistles and the thorns in our lives that cause us to sin or be fruitless in our walk with Him. God does not prune us to punish us. It is quite the opposite. He prunes us as an act of His perfect love and care for us. Our pruning is a vital part of our cultivation process and it is a requirement for our being in Christ Jesus and being changed and made into new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17). Let us pray and rejoice when we recognize God’s pruning work in our lives. As the thorns and thistles fall from us, we will produce new and good fruit!