A Little Pain for Long Term Gain

Recently at a family outing I was sitting with my youngest son Joel when I noticed he had a splinter in his foot. I asked him if it was hurting or sore. He said it didn't hurt and he hadn't been complaining about it. However on closer inspection I could tell it had been in there for some time owing to the redness surrounding the penetration point and it must have been bothering him at some stage. I took a closer look and tentatively started trying to remove the splinter. Focussed on the job at hand, I kept asking him, 'Does it hurt?' to which he kept saying, 'No.'

With a little effort the splinter was slowly coming out. I kept on going and asking him if he was OK. He kept saying he was. After a little more prodding and poking, I finally removed the broken tip of a thick Bouganvillea thorn - some 3-4mm long - out of his foot! I looked up at him to show him what was in his foot and saw for the first time the tears in his eyes caused by the pain of what I was doing to him. The poor kid must have been hurting but he never told me or let on. I said I was so sorry for causing him that pain and embraced him.

I was thinking about it later and saw the correlation between that incident and what God does for me. At times in my life, it is very painful. It seems like He is allowing or even inflicting pain on me at certain times. Jealousy and envy rise up and I feel overlooked and undervalued. I cry, feel hurt, get angry or lash out in frustration. Yet all the while God is pulling out the broken thorns in my heart that I cannot feel anymore, let alone remember, how or when that thing even got in there.

He goes to the source and not the symptons of my pain. With some precise poking and prodding God comes as a master surgeon with the sole intent of saving my life from these deadly thorns. I’m relieved when they are removed from my heart – oh the benefit of hindsight - but that extraction process sure hurts.

Jesus tells the story of God being like a gardener who prunes bushes in order that they produce the life He intended for them. He cuts off dead branches that bear no fruit, as well as pruning healthy branches so that they can produce even more fruit. It is in the midst of this pruning that He then calls us to abide, to remain in His presence.

This invitation to abide and bear the pruning is so that He can do what is required in us in order that we bear much fruit. The fruit is real life, the God-life. God's desire for us is to be so full of His life so we can release it to those we come into contact with. The fragrant aroma of this fruit then has the opportunity to touch and impact people's hearts with true reality. Mysteriously though, the call to abide is issued with His foreknowledge. It is inevitable that the pruning shears will cause pain as they are allowed to do their work in our lives.

What thorns need to be removed from your life? Are there any branches that need pruning? What about those old war wounds forgotten and hidden deep in your heart that a little prying or poking generate a little or maybe a lot of short term pain?

My Heavenly Father is such a good Dad. He is so loving and kind. He knows the beginning from the end and knows what is best for me. He does not want me to suffer from any wound, no matter how big or small, that left unattended has the potential to take me out. His desire for me is to experience and release real life.

Do I have the courage and the honesty required to let him do some digging in the garden of my heart so I may possess the abundant life Jesus offers and supplies? Will you surrender to the hands of the Master Physician? Will you trust the shears of the Skilled Gardener?

I pray for the grace to allow Him to remove the thorns so I can truly experience this God-life He so desires for me to live. A little pain for that long term gain is a small price to pay.