The Power of the Shears

Dylan:  "Mom, can I get a haircut?"
Me:      "WHAAAAT!?"  "AGAIN!?"  "NO WAY!"
Dylan:  "Please, Mama...I need it!"
Me:      "You just had a haircut...like...a week ago! NO!"
Dylan:  "It grows really fast when you cut it short!"
Me:      "Then, let it grow long!"

Sigh...I literally get like 2 haircuts a year, maybe...in a good year.  Dylan, I swear it feels like he gets one every other week!  I'm so sick of it.  I miss the days when he didn't care about his hair and just got buzz cuts.  I didn't know how good I had it back then.  And to think that I was the one that kept on suggesting he'd get one of those "cool cuts"...blah, blah, blah...Mercy!!  And then, there's the "products"...We need a line-item on our budget just for Dylan's hair...

The thing is, the jury is still out when it comes to whether hair grows faster when you trim it or not...but, if you do have the really short cuts, then, it shows growth quicker and more noticeable.  Also, if you have split ends, trimming your hair makes it look healthier.  So, getting regular cuts does help make one's hair look nicer and well kept.  But it is such a pain!  It is very costly in money and in time.  But...like Dylan would say: "aren't you glad I want to look nice and not like a bum?" Sigh...

That's, in a small way, kind of what pruning means in the Bible: cutting or trimming to promote growth and fruitfulness.

"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. John 15: 2

I guess, the benefits of pruning are very well known to gardeners and those who tend fruit trees (and Dylan...but on the hair context...). I, on the other hand, don't know anything about it; but...I have seen some examples.  I remember, when I hadn't been around this area for long, I would see the orchard at the Apple Castle and wondered why the apple trees were so tiny.  One time, at one of their fall fests, the kids and I went on a hayride and they explained how they prune the apple trees every year so they can produce nice, juicy and sweet fruits.  That was intriguing...but it sure helped me understand better the lessons in John 15.  The more I drove by that orchard during season and saw the tiny trees packed full with apples, the more the whole thing made sense:  God, as the Good Gardener, wants us to be fruitful.  And for that, pruning is essential.

It's still very hard, though.  Who likes to be pruned, cut and trimmed?  NOT. ME.  But, apparently, we are the apple trees in the orchard, and if we want our apples to be ever so juicy, sweet and delish, we must endure the harshness of the pruning blade...sigh.  And, the funny thing is, even when we are producing fruit, He keeps on pruning us faithfully, so our fruit gets better and better every time we bloom...

There's no just sitting around in the Kingdom of God.  We think we got something going on that makes us feel as if we're all set and won't need to adjust anything for the long run...when, BAM! there come the shears...and it's all because our Heavenly Gardener doesn't want our growth to be stunted or our fruit to become bland.  He wants us to be productive plants in His Garden.  He wants our branches to continue to produce delightful fruit every season, and that won't happen unless we feel the steel of the blade on our skin.

Me:  "NO HAIRCUT NOW!  Maybe like the day before school starts...maybe...ugh!!!"

Dylan walks away smiling.  He knows he's got me.  Of course I would take him in for a trim.  I do want him to look good...I just hope I remember this next time it's my turn to face the power of the shears.