“They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green,”
Psalm 92:14 NIV
After years of Mark pruning our bushes, I finally convinced him that we needed to hire a professional to tackle our front yard. This was a big deal! Mark had a landscape business for many years, with upwards of 32 or more yards to care for, in addition to his teaching job. He cut their grass and pruned their bushes, year in and year out. He did an excellent job.
But when it came to our yard, our bushes did not get pruned enough, in my humble opinion(and a great friend James Myers’ opinion. James, thank you for agreeing with me). When they were pruned, Mark was reluctant to cut off a lot of growth. It came to the point where the bushes were out of control.
When the landscaping company came to prune, he agreed that 30-50% of the bushes needed to be removed. He assured me that by May, we will see new growth. Oh my goodness...our front yard is filled with dead bushes! There is no green on the bushes. We can see our windows now but no beautiful landscaping. It looks like a bunch of dead bushes!!! I am seconding guessing my bold decision to take off such a dramatic amount of growth. I am in the scary period of time where I have to water and wait to see if the bushes become green again.
Maybe there are some similarities in my life right now. I recently retired after 40 years of teaching, some part time but mostly full time. I have struggled to accept the shocking emptiness of my schedule. It looks so bare. I’m positive that I made the right decision, just as I’m positive that our bushes needed dramatic removal of branches. Most of my life, I was doing way too many things, way overgrown like my bushes, but I was too scared to cut out anything. They all seemed like good things.
Even now, I am tempted to add a lot of meaningless things to fill up my day again. But mostly I am waiting on new growth. I’m simply watering and waiting on the Lord to show me where He can use me now. I’m watering by spending a lot more time praying and listening. It makes me smile to hear him say, “Just sit with me, Pat. You don’t have to do a single thing to earn my love. Quit trying. Just sit here with me.”
I am absolutely clinging to this verse! “They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green.” A perfect example of this is my precious dad. He went to be with the Lord about a year and a half ago at age 90. He became fresher and greener in his last years. I want to be like that. I want to end strong. Sweetness.
