Every year I enjoy gorgeous hydrangeas from my garden with very little effort. Most years I just water, do a bit of trimming, and enjoy—mainly in the garden, but sometimes I bring the blossoms indoors too even though they make for a rather top-heavy arrangement.

But over time, my hydrangea bushes have grown too unruly and big for me, so this year I decided to prune them properly—and by “properly” I mean according to what I could find on youtube, yet as simply as possible, given my very basic gardening skills and tools.

I learned a lot about the different kinds of hydrangeas, how to figure out what kind I have, when and how to prune, and so on. And of course since I was looking at different gardening videos, I got lots of different advice. So I decided just to  follow the most basic recommendation: to look at each branch, follow it down to the first bud, and cut just above. If there was no evidence of growth along the branch, then cut it off at the base.

As I pruned my three hydrangea bushes, that became a life lesson for me too: I needed to trim and prune my life to make it more manageable, to remove those things that were no longer life-giving, to allow the air and light in to nurture new growth. Yet I knew I would need to discern carefully, for what might not be immediately life-giving for me, might be life-giving to someone else that I would want to continue. How then to prune wisely but not selfishly, to listen to the Spirit for what is life-giving for me and for others?

It’s easiest for me to discern the life-giving parts of my life:

• last week’s visit to spend some time with family and friends in Alberta (my first plane trip since the pandemic!)
• visits with friends—a walk or a lunch or a picnic every day this week! Except for today that I set aside for being at home
• time at home—I’ve been out in the garden already this morning, and for breakfast I stir fried rice noodles with a bit of ground pork and a lot of vegetables
• writing/editing/speaking–this blog post, my sermon for this Sunday, reviewing the author’s proof of my soon-to-be-released sermon book, editing Rejoice!, and other projects
• I said yes to teaching another Xplore course for Canadian Mennonite University this fall—more to come on the topic and title.

I’ve also started pruning:

• I’ve been gradually recycling old magazines, cardboard, drafts of completed writing projects, and other papers I don’t need to keep.
• I’ve been shredding old and no longer needed financial papers and using the shredded office paper as mulch in the garden.
• I (finally!) cleaned out the garage and got rid of the old broken-down lawn mower that’s been sitting in the corner ever since we moved from the house into our townhouse.
• I said no to reading and endorsing a new book—I almost said yes because I love to support other authors, but given my other commitments the end of June deadline was just too tight.

I’ll have more to share about pruning and discerning in my next post, but at least this is a start, and I’m looking forward to the new growth that’s coming.

Writing/Reflection Prompt: What is life-giving for you? What is dead wood that needs to be pruned?

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