pruning

I don't have a very good "before" picture . . . but if you look behind that handsome guy you can see some very rich greens and pinks; it is a gorgeous Bougainvillaea bush.  

Here is another picture, an up-close picture:

Well, we had a very cold winter here in Arizona. . . . I know almost all the country had feet of snow and below zero temperatures while we might have woken up a few times to a few frozen-over puddles.  Personally, the winter here was quite nice.  However, for this bougainvelaea bush, it was quite harsh and resulted in a bush that looked completely dead.  I was so tired of coming home every day to the giant dead-looking bush at the front of the house.  One day, I could take it no longer and I did me A LOT  of pruning!

This is what I removed:

I did not know that they had soooo many thorns. . . my arms are all scratched up to prove it.  The three piles of branches were larger than what is left of the bush.

This is what the bush looks like now (the green in the background is a completely different bush):

bare, nubby almost dead-looking branches.

Here it is from a distance:

Behind the bush and in the bottom right-hand screen is the rubbish removed, there is still one more pile!  

As I was pruning and my arms were getting scratched and tired and I was standing in the hot sun I thought about how much work it was for ME to prune, how I didn't like it and was not getting enjoyment from the actual activity of pruning.   I had always thought about pruning from the perspective of the bush being pruned, pruning is not a pleasant process for the bush, all the cutting and probing.  Like The Lord prunes us, we know it is painful to US, it doesn't FEEL good to be pruned.   In addition, however, much like I did not enjoy pruning this bougainvillaea bush, My Heavenly Father does not ENJOY pruning me.  He does not ENJOY bringing me pain.  However, even more than I understand the power of pruning this bush, HE understands the power of pruning me.   Oh, how I at times feel like nothing more than a mere stump.

He knows full well that the pain caused now will develop a HARVEST of Peace and Righteousness! 

Oh, how I long for that day.  

For now, see what is coming up from the roots!

It's going to be a glorious bush this summer, I just know it!