It’s Easter Sunday! The plants both in and outside my house are thriving thanks to this morning’s early rain shower. But, there is one more thing they need in order to continue their growth.
They need to be pruned or clipped every so often so that oxygen can get their roots better. Pruning helps them continue to grow big, strong, and produce beautiful blooms. For me, it’s also a great way to come down from a stressful, anxiety filled day. I take my time to check every leaf and every bloom, plucking away what is dead so it can continue its growth.
We are like my plants. We need an occasional pruning so we can continue to grow. I’m not referring to the same physical growth the plants go through. I’m referring to an inner growth. A growth in our spirit and in our heart.
As I mentioned before, I’m a teacher. We’re in that time of year when we are doing our state testing. We push from coming back from Spring Break to now making sure any concept students are struggling with are retaught one last time. My students took their state exam this past week. To them, the school year is over and they are ready for summer. To be honest, so am I, but I have to continue teaching so they are prepared for the next grade level.
This can create high anxiety in the classroom as you have to find ways to keep the kids engaged over these next four or five weeks. For our grade level, we are doing a novel study for the rest of the school year. It’s a nice break from the norm and they get to speak openly about how the book relates to them, which creates growth in their spirit. Yes, we have a unit to still cover, but I have chosen to “prune” it some to help both the students and I breathe a little easier.
I have a tendency to care a little too much about things some times. That is probably part of the reason I take an anxiety pill everyday. I care about my students, even the ones who made a choice to be ugly. I have to learn how to prune the hurt and disappointment away so that I can focus my spirit on being an example of love, joy, and peace.
It is the negative in our lives that weigh our spirits down. It is choosing to hold on to pain and anger that places bitterness in our heart. It is choosing not to forgive that breaks our hearts wide open and cracks our spirit. We must prune all the pain, anger, and resentment away. Hanging on to all this negativity will not help our spirits grow into the loving creatures they are supposed to be. Negativity is full of seeds that create weeds around our hearts and suffocates them.
I have had to learn to forgive the student who made the ugly, hurtful comment. I have had to recognize that he was doing it to be “cool” in the moment with his friends. I have to embrace the student he is now. The one who has already read the novel all the way through and can’t wait to discuss it each day. I have to embrace that child and that moment so, together, he and I can prune away the dead and grow in our spirits.
How is your spirit? How is your heart? Do they need pruning? Take it to the Creator. Let him prune you so you can continue your growth to the growth and purpose he has for you.
