Beauty Grows From Pruning (Joni)

It's almost 1am and I can't sleep. My soul is weary but my brain won't rest. Life. Circumstances. Hurt. Betrayal. Sadness. Tears. Lots of tears.

My brain keeps replaying all that has gone on. It's been a very emotional journey for each of us in my family. My husband said it well; it feels like our feet find the ground and then we get sucker punched again.

We've been watching a lot of gardening videos lately. This year we will be planting our first garden on the new property. A BIG garden! It's Abby's dream and her pet project although I'm (not so secretly) getting to live out a lifelong dream of mine too. 🙂

I discovered Ann of All Trades's videos on YouTube (of course Abby was already familiar with them 😁). She calls herself the Lazy Gardener. She has very informative, easy to understand videos. Perfect for me! Btw, I highly recommend watching her videos.

We found a video where she explained how to create garden beds that require very little water or weeding. We watched as she laid down multiple, specific things from nature on top of broken down cardboard boxes and explained the process in detail. When she finished creating the bed she grabbed a tomato plant to place in the freshly made bed. I was shocked by what she did next. She pulled off almost all of the plant leaving only one stem. By doing that, she said the plant would actually grow more roots and have a stronger root system. 😲 I had no idea!


I keep thinking about that tomato plant. With all of the leaves it was beautiful. Anyone who loves tomato plants would want it. Once the leaves were stripped, leaving only the main stalk and top leaves, the plant looked weak and there wasn't much left of it. But that isn't the end for the plant, it's actually a fresh start...a new beginning of sorts. You see, you have to take the tomato plant and bury it until all of the scars, from where it was just pruned, are covered over with soil. The only thing above the soil line is the single stalk and top leaves of the plant. Sure the plant looks a little different but it will grow to be SO much stronger!!

Like the tomato plant, sometimes things in our life are stripped away. We are left injured, hurt, and sometimes even feeling betrayed. BUT out of that hurt grows a stronger "root system." We will never be quite the same because of the trials we have gone through. We will most likely have permanent scars left behind. But then they slowly heal and out of that healing comes a new strength. A different look - one that covers over the old. And although it doesn't remove the scar, it grows over it creating something even more beautiful; a stronger us whose roots go deeper and grow thicker better preparing us to withstand the next wind that comes.

Here's to new strength and a beauty that can only come from new growth over the fresh scars. ❤️ 


Growing in Hope,

~Joni

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