Second Chance at Life

A few months ago, I told you about my beloved plumeria, the plant that has filled my heart with pride. Well, you know that freeze we had over Mother's Day? Ya. Well, my tropical princess suffered. Her green baby leaves turned black and fell off. The claws (pre-leaf thingies) turned black and the limbs became squishy. Eww. Oh how I nearly cried. Over the last few weeks, I've doted on her, not knowing what to do. Her trunk is fine, but those limbs, all four of them, are most certainly dead.

I did some research tonight and guess what?! My plumeria has a second chance at life. I won't bore you with the details but it involved careful pruning. She won't bloom either leaves or flowers this year, but that's okay so long as she comes back!

Of course as I stood in my foyer carefully pruning the branches, I was reminded of how God prunes us. You know some times parts of our lives get black, squishy and withered. Once healthy limbs dangle like dislocated legs and though the trunk is alive, if the mushiness isn't removed the entire plant suffers. And maybe even dies.

Isn't that the way it is with life too? If we just went along through life and never had a pruning, our spiritual life would die. Maybe we become too heady and fall over under the weight of our arrogance. Or maybe a good crisis comes along and freezes us in our tracks and we wither. But if we allow our Father to gently prune back the dead wood, new growth can come in just like my plumeria. It's not an instant fix, mind you, and the growing part is difficult too, but oh the glory when those new blooms burst forth!

I love that stupid plumeria even more now that it's been near death. It's a sweet reminder of my Father who just wants to see me bloom.