Back in July, I did it: I set my jaw, gritted my teeth, marched out there and let them have it. I pulled them out by measure, wincing repeatedly. It almost hurt as if I were one of them, carrot remaining in a decimated bed! It did seem so destructive…

I wonder if it hurt that much because each plucking gesture reminded me of thing after thing plucked away from my life: aims, dreams, people, confidence in people, pleasant abilities and earnest ministries… Lots. Lost.

(Sigh!) But I set my jaw again and thanked my Master Gardener, my Eternal Husbandman, for all those personal thinnings, based on the biblical principle that “Thin we must,” and “Thinned we must be,” for healthy soul growth to happen (John 15:2).

The carrot bed: it was a potential parable picturing that.

So, what happened? How did the parable end?

Here you see it. All from one small garden bed, three short rows, of fragile wisps of green growth, left bereft:

We make whining, even wailing protest. We cry, repeating, “Why?” not listening for the answer(s) we don’t want to hear. We hate to let go. We think we’re being robbed.

But we’re just being set up to flourish!

Thanks be to God Who gives us the increase (1 Cor 3:6)! (And thins so it can happen.)

*****