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Colossians 4:2 NLT

'Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.'

In February I needed to prune the runaway beech hedge in my garden while it was still dormant. All of life has seasons within which certain tasks need to be achieved. A twelve-foot thick hedge was to become an eight-foot hedge and we would recover four feet of garden in the process.

I was intimidated by the size of the task but set about it with a tree saw, since there was not enough room to wield a chainsaw safely. As I began, I wondered where I might meet God in this task. I have discovered everything affords an opportunity for thanksgiving. It’s just that we need to open our eyes to observe God even in the most mundane of situations. I found the rhythm of the sawing, the removal of tree branches, the slow but definite inroads I made upon my task, all caused my heart to sing.

There is something beautiful about manual work. I feel the strain as the work demands muscular endeavour as much as mental ability. It grounds me and reminds me that I am body and spirit. So much of life can draw on just one aspect of our beautiful humanity, yet God is committed to wholeness, illustrated in the way three persons are also one God. There’s a chance any one of us can look down on one or more aspects of their humanity. We may feel ugly, fat, unintelligent or lacking in confidence. Yet, God sees each and every aspect of who we are created to be and to become, and all barriers to beauty are of our own making.

Just as my beech hedge needed some radical cutting back, there are seasons when the bad thoughts I have about myself require the pruning of the Holy Spirit so that again, like my hedge, I might grow back stronger and healthier. We are so often our own greatest critics, thereby stunting our growth.

QUESTION: What aspects of your character needs pruning?

PRAYER: Father, thank you that “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14, NIV) and yet Lord, shape me for good growth.