The Price and the Prize
Weeding disturbs the soil, and pruning opens up an area that will need to heal over--but without them, neither land nor tree is as fruitful as it can be. Therefore I am willing to endure discomfort--and more than that, I embrace it as necessary for growth in life and grace. I wrote these words about ten years ago and found them today, just when I needed them, as I flipped through an old journal. I don't love change. Its antonyms: stay, rest, remain--they attract me, not disruption--the price of change. Change is oxygen to some people's souls--not to mine. But when I consider the prize--greater fruitfulness--my soul settles into peace, and I say, yes, weed--yes, prune, stir up my serene pond--even if I love it here.