The bright yellow caught my eye and changed my plans. I decided I could use a distraction. Someone had left a yellow gerbera daisy in a small vase at the center of the labyrinth. So I stopped and decided to walk the labyrinth, something I haven’t done in a while.
But I wasn’t 2 steps onto the path at the beginning when I was distracted by yet something else…ground cover that had grown over 2-3 pavers of width and mulch that spilled out as well, both contributing to a noticeable narrowing of the path. So I started pulling off the ground cover and sweeping back the mulch to re-expose and re-widen the path. And as I noticed how much ground cover, mulch, and dirt needed to be trimmed and cleared away from the perimeter, I was reminded of a Busted Halo post about pruning, you can read it here…
The brief version is that wise pruning is vital for the health and apple production of an apple tree, or any fruit tree. The writer comes to realize that he doesn’t have the time to tend to his apple tree such that it will produce an abundance of beautiful fruit. There are other things in his life that are more vital at this time and in need of his time and energy. So the idea of the perfect apple tree has been pruned, cut away for another time maybe.
One prunes fruit trees to encourage strong and healthy growth and fruit production. Without pruning, the number and quality of the fruit is reduced. Sometimes “branches” seem to sprout at the base of a tree or on some random spot on the trunk or on a branch. These tend to grow very vertically. They are called suckers…they suck the energy away from the healthy branches of the tree…they need to be removed.
Back at the labyrinth, the ground cover and mulch had grown and spilled over the path, narrowing the path. And I couldn’t help but connect these things…pruning branches/suckers, cutting back ground cover, and sweeping away the dead wood chips. It’s not just about pruning to refocus and redirect energy, it’s about getting rid of what is burying us, the dead stuff we lug around, the things that are life-smothering or life-sucking and clutter the path.
I need to commit to pruning what is not bearing fruit or healthy fruit. It’s time to remove that which is life-draining and not let distractions delay the pruning and trimming back as a way of putting it off by thinking good fruit will come forth and pruning can be avoided. That’s not best for apple trees or grape vines…or me.
So I made my way around the labyrinth path to the center, to the bright yellow flower someone had intentionally left in the center space. Mind you, it’s a cut flower in a vase, so its days are definitely numbered. Still, in the mid-afternoon sun, it was this bright sunny yellow and it looked so full of life in the midst of dormant rose bushes, brown dormant ever”greens”, and the leafless trees.
Maybe it was a reminder as we enter into the Lenten season, that there is new life ahead in pruning, trimming, and letting things die. Maybe the walk around the labyrinth was a reminder as I cleared dead wood chips and smothering ground cover, that in clearing the path one can find a life-giving path.
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