South Africa 4 - Bloemfontein
One of the hazards of living out of a suitcase for a month is the fact that things you normally have time or facility for, like a haircut for example, can become a bit more inconvenient, or at least out of your comfort zone! Fortunately I have a manager in South Africa who knows how to quickly organize such things!
Alyssa is training to be a hairdresser. And I hadn't had a haircut in 4 weeks / things were getting a bit wooly! She started by asking me if I wanted a number 1, 2, or 3. I chose 3, and out came the trimmer. BUZZ. Wow. A few more skillful cuts with the clippers, and voila - job done!
There was hair everywhere on the floor. My hair grows fast anyway, but this was ridiculous. And not to force the analogy, but it did remind me of the parable of the vinedresser...
Pruning seems to be a truth in the larger remit of the Kingdom - it is necessary to keep things from getting out of hand. I mean, things grow. And things left to themselves and unattended rarely or never get better - they either corrupt, become unruly, and then deteriorate.
Hence the discipline of pruning.
Any good Orchard keeper will tell you that unpruned trees don't produce near as much fruit as pruned ones, and are much more prone to disease and branch- breakage than trees that are properly pruned. Hairdressers say the same about split ends and unwashed or unconditioned hair, but being a man, I'm not near as up on that as my wife and daughters, who could most likely lecture on the subject!
But I do know, that as with many areas of life, godly discipline is a healthy thing that keeps things from growing out of control and from making a mess, whether its politics, economics, spirituality, stuff in my garage, or on my own body!
I am fascinated that a chore as simple as getting a haircut can remind us that we probably need to regularly do a "pruning inventory" - what needs to get trimmed off so that I can reduce the clutter in my personal, my physical, and my spiritual life? It's a discipline well-worth the engagement, as it will make much more room for fruit in the long run.
One of the hazards of living out of a suitcase for a month is the fact that things you normally have time or facility for, like a haircut for example, can become a bit more inconvenient, or at least out of your comfort zone! Fortunately I have a manager in South Africa who knows how to quickly organize such things!
Alyssa is training to be a hairdresser. And I hadn't had a haircut in 4 weeks / things were getting a bit wooly! She started by asking me if I wanted a number 1, 2, or 3. I chose 3, and out came the trimmer. BUZZ. Wow. A few more skillful cuts with the clippers, and voila - job done!
There was hair everywhere on the floor. My hair grows fast anyway, but this was ridiculous. And not to force the analogy, but it did remind me of the parable of the vinedresser...
Pruning seems to be a truth in the larger remit of the Kingdom - it is necessary to keep things from getting out of hand. I mean, things grow. And things left to themselves and unattended rarely or never get better - they either corrupt, become unruly, and then deteriorate.
Hence the discipline of pruning.
Any good Orchard keeper will tell you that unpruned trees don't produce near as much fruit as pruned ones, and are much more prone to disease and branch- breakage than trees that are properly pruned. Hairdressers say the same about split ends and unwashed or unconditioned hair, but being a man, I'm not near as up on that as my wife and daughters, who could most likely lecture on the subject!
But I do know, that as with many areas of life, godly discipline is a healthy thing that keeps things from growing out of control and from making a mess, whether its politics, economics, spirituality, stuff in my garage, or on my own body!
I am fascinated that a chore as simple as getting a haircut can remind us that we probably need to regularly do a "pruning inventory" - what needs to get trimmed off so that I can reduce the clutter in my personal, my physical, and my spiritual life? It's a discipline well-worth the engagement, as it will make much more room for fruit in the long run.
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