the apple tree

when we moved into our house in Sumner we inherited an old apple tree. my husband, being in the tree industry, decided it needed a good trimming. this tree probably hadn't been pruned in over a decade. it was knarly and there were limbs crisscrossing every which way. it was an ugly mess, but my husband saw what it could be like, what it should be like.

he went to work trimming the branches, cutting, cutting and cutting some more. when he was finished there were very few branches left. it looked decimated. but he assured me that this old tree had needed a severe pruning in order to bring back order and purpose to it. all fall and winter i looked at that tree and wondered if we'd have to take it down eventually. but in the spring new growth appeared. new branches started growing and it began leafing out. over the next few years we were at that house, that tree began bearing fruit and looked better than i ever imagined it could be. it was a stately, old apple tree bearing fruit and spreading its branches to shade us during the summer afternoons.

many times i have felt like that old apple tree. way out of control, left to grow without a good pruning, until the Master Pruner comes along and gives me a severe pruning. sometimes i wonder why He waited so long, but most times i know He was giving me the opportunity to voluntarily come back in line with His will. and when i didn't or wouldn't, He would step in with the pruning shears. not wanting to have to cut down the tree altogether He would cut and cut and cut some more ......