Jaymie Stuart Wolfe on Our Spiritual Growth and God's Pruning

"When we moved south, we were happy to leave the snow 0 and the snow thrower - behind. We knew the summers would be hot, but no one ever told us just how fast everything grows down here. Back in Wakefield, mowing the lawn was a weekly job. But if it rained or things came up, it wasn't the end of the world if it went two weeks.

"here, the summer grass needs to be cut every five days. If you let it go past a week, your yard is likely to bear a striking resemblance to Jurassic Park. In fact, I think it might actually be possible to watch the grass grow. That's why, in a subdivision community of 900 houses, the sound of mowers and weed-whackers is almost as constant as the cicadas at night or the F-18s from the nearby Naval Air Station during the day. And yes, while our friends in Boston are shoveling their driveways, we'll still be mowing our lawn. It does wind down to only a few times a month in December and January. The upside is that something is always blooming. On the downside, pulling weeds is a year-round activity.

"Things grow whether we want them to or not, and many of them grow faster than we ever imagined they could. We accumulate more stuff than we ever intended. We fall out of touch with people we care about. Time accrues for happy anniversaries and grudges alike. Nothing stays the way it is. We grow, both closer and further apart, from one another and from God."

In a recent commentary, writer Jaymie Stuart Wolfe reflected on the pruning God accomplishes in our lives.

To access Ms. Wolfe's complete post, please visit:

The Boston Pilot: Echoes: Growing things (28 JUN 19)