From Pastor Rod - From April 2019 Newsletter

As we enter the last days of Lent, and Holy Week, then Easter Sunday, it’s a good time to reflect on renewal.  For many Presbyterians, Lent has not always been a significant time in the church year.  Many might even say “it’s a Catholic thing.”  But Lent should be a beautiful time of

renewal for us as well.

A couple of weeks ago, we had one nice day in the midst of this prolonged winter, so I decided to tackle some much-needed yard work.  We have a couple of “burning bush” shrubs by the front porch.  I’ve always been told you need to cut these back before they start budding in the Spring, but the last couple of years, I’ve not been able to get that done, and the bushes were well over ten feet tall.

These bushes had grown so tall, they were out of control, and I was determined to get them cut back this year.  I got the clippers out, and started to cut them, but I realized, they had already started to green up, and were very near to budding.  I wasn’t sure what to do, but decided to go ahead and cut them back.

Well, I cut a couple of feet off of them, but because I had missed cutting them in previous seasons, I actually had to get the chain saw out, because the branches had gotten so thick, and so tough that the clippers were no match for them.  I could tell each season of growth in the branches, because they got thicker, tougher, and harder to cut every foot or two.

I hated to cut all the growth off of them, but at the same time, I knew that I had to cut them down, almost to the ground to get them to grow back properly.  When I was done, there was only a stump of four or five thick branches, about two feet high.  They looked terrible. They looked dead.  And the house looked bare without the two huge bushes we had grown accustomed to.  I was sure I had probably killed them by butchering them so bad.

That was two weeks ago.  This morning, I checked these bushes, and already, I can see new growth sprouting from the thick, remaining branches.  They will survive.  And because they have been pruned, they will grow back.  Thicker.  Stronger.  And in better shape than before.

That’s what Lent can be for us.  A time of renewal.  A time to prune ourselves, to cut back some of our nastier habits, our unkind comments, our prejudices, and negative thoughts.  Lent should be a time to reflect.  A time we take annually to get ourselves square with God, and look forward to a Spring and Summer of resurrection and new growth.  If we “prune ourselves” every year, we won’t develop the thick, tough, gnarly branches that can be so hard to cut back in future years.

I hope you’ll join me in these last few days of Lent, to do just that.

God’s blessings to you all,

Rod Seel