Mela Kamin – 4:10 Ministries

The day I decide to prune our apple trees, I tune in to see my friend & Bible teacher, Barbara Collins on MomTV. Yesterday, she talked about “discovering God in and through our children” – training them up and seeing the fruit of our labor.
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There are NO accidents.
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You can see highlights of her talk here, but here are more of my thoughts today:
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When we moved to this property six years ago, we were delighted to learn we had three apple trees lining the side of our yard. But, in all that time, they have not produced good fruit. Not only that, I’ve neglected them. I figured someday I’d find out how to care for them. That day never came.
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So, I decided to start fresh – give them a good pruning (ok – I attacked them) … I cleared them out & got rid of bad fruit, hoping that helps with next year’s growth.
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Here are some things I learned from pruning … {insert well-known Biblical metaphors here}
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Though you’ve heard this “sermon” before, probably countless times, stay with me.
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There’s a reason Jesus talked about bearing fruit and staying connected to the vine … He knew He was leaving this earth and when we don’t remain in Him,, we also wither and die. These simple parables help us to see God in our everyday lives and bring His Word to life.
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• when you’re in the thick of it, you can’t see the most obvious things to get rid of
• you need to step back and see what else needs to go
• pruning helps to open up, untangle & set free to stretch & grow
• it gives room & space to bear better fruit
• it might not feel good/look good now, but later you’ll see how necessary it was

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Barbara talked about being in training mode with our kids and our eagerness as Mothers to pipe in with our own thoughts needlessly. {raises hand, sheepishly} She mentioned the “quiet woman” who keeps her seat. HUH?
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From Barbara’s latest post: “I am learning and hoping they will ask for my opinion or advice without my usual piping in as it tells me in Ecc. 5:2 “letting my words be few”, or not keeping my seat as it tells me in 1 Tim 2:2 to “lead a quiet and peaceable life”. Quiet here literally means “keeping one’s seat.”

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That’s a tough one for me. I’m opinionated and it’s difficult to restrain myself (and my tongue) when something inside tells me to speak up. That goes for my time with my kids, my husband and spills over into other areas as well.
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I forget that sometimes that something isn’t of God – sometimes it’s my pride, my desire for control and my foolishness.
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Speaking of control, my ministry has been going through a “quiet season” lately. Some events got cancelled and it’s been challenging to fill my schedule.
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What I’m seeing more clearly now is that I’ve been desiring to be busy with “my work” instead of my husband’s or my Heavenly Father’s.
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I think I have something important & compelling to say, but maybe it’s not the words that need to be said that will teach, but how I handle myself when my timing isn’t His.
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God knew Greg’s business would be requiring more from him. That it would take him away from us more than he’s ever been. How could I focus on my music ministry AND the kids, if he’s not here? – I can’t and God knew that.
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So, some pruning of my schedule was done.
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But, tell my heart that a few weeks ago.
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I was frustrated because I WANTED to be busy (but busy with fun stuff like singing, not boring Mom stuff). If I stepped back, I’d realize, I’ve been VERY busy.
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But, what have I been busying myself with?
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Have I spent my moments needlessly worrying about when I’ll get “MY” chance to do something “important”?
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Have I been waiting for good things to just fall into my lap, instead of taking positive steps each day to make my writing, singing, speaking better, for when a door opens? Have I not been laboring and still asking God to deliver?
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I’ve been neglecting my gift just like those apple trees.
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And, I didn’t realize until that pruning was done & I gave myself space, that I’ve been doing His work by:
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• being supportive of my husband
• picking up slack he’s picked up for me the countless times I’ve been gone
• tending to our children who will only be this age for a flicker of time
• teaching in a very tangible example that our ways aren’t His ways

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It sounds like some SERIOUS pruning was in order and I’m now seeing how much I needed it.
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Have you gone through a moment or season of pruning? What do you think God was trying to teach you?