Dear Church Family,

I really do like doing yard work. I love the end product. And yet, as I type that, I ask myself if I’ve ever really even seen an end product. I guess I have not – I’ve found that a yard is always a work in progress. I’ve lived in my current house for 2 ½ years, and it’s just now starting to look like I want it to. And there’s a long way left to go!

But it’s taken a lot of work to get here. I’ve done a lot of watering and fertilizing and planting and creating and … well, you get the idea. It’s taken a lot of sweat and scrapes and sore muscles. But when spring hits and the new growth comes out, with all of the bright greens and flower blooms, you know it’s all worth it!

But I’ve come to realize in recent years that there is another major factor in a beautiful yard. In fact, it’s probably THE major factor … death. You read that right. As I sit here, I’m trying to think of a more necessary component in formulating a beautiful yard and I cannot think of one. It’s death. If you want an eye-popping landscape, you have to do a lot of killing. A LOT!

I think through the last couple of years, and I’ve done a lot of killing in my yard. I have killed weeds. A LOT of them … or at least I attempted to (😬). I have dug up creepers and bad root balls in my flower beds. I have cut down several unappealing trees (Remember my eye injury?) and bushes that previous owners obviously loved. I have killed off areas of my yard so I could plant new flower beds. Even cutting the grass and edging and shaping up bushes is producing dead stuff. Let’s just say that the city has hauled off many piles of dead yard trash from my front yard the last 2 years!

Yes, you definitely have to kill a lot of stuff in order to have a yard that looks alive and attractive!

Jesus took that same concept and applied it to an ongoing spiritual reality in our lives. He said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit” John 15:1-2.

You see, there are times where God takes certain things away from us. Or at the very least, He allows them to exit our lives. We may not like it or understand it. It may be painful. It might feel a lot like something inside of us has died. And in times like that, we have the tendency to wonder what we did wrong for God to punish us so. Or it could be that we begin to question God’s goodness or sovereignty or the list could go on. And all the while, all God is doing is making us more beautiful. More productive. More holy. More like His Son.

My grandparents were long-time residents of Jesup. They had a beautiful yard that my grandfather had obviously invested a lot of time in. And a big part of the beauty of the yard were all of the azaleas. Their love for azaleas was passed to my mom and now to me. But every year my Granddaddy would make my Granny so mad! After they bloomed he would cut them back so far … almost to nubs. And she would fuss and fuss. But guess what – every year they grew back more and more beautiful. He knew what he was doing.

So look, when God allows something to be removed from your life, I realize it might hurt – maybe even feel like death. But entrust it to God and His sovereignty. He knows what He’s doing. Because when you do, He will bring you back more beautiful than ever before!

See you Sunday!
Pastor Lane