The Smallest Rose Bush

I saw the smallest rose bush the other day. It was full of blooms. I had not noticed it before but this day it was all could look at and think about. It was beautiful and it was obvious the keeper of the rose bush knew what they were doing. This small yet flourishing bush sent my mind into how God works on us. My rose bushes are out of control and taller than my house. One, after 7 years, finally bloomed more than once or twice; this bush all though a little out of control was beautiful and the neighbors noticed it as well. However, another neighbor of mine has several smaller rose bushes. They always bloom the full season and never have grown much taller but are far more effective than mine. I thought about the blossom itself. How beautiful and fragrant it is. I have cut roses as a bud and those in full bloom in order to display them in my home. One of my rose bushes produces such a fragrance that it takes only one to fill the room with it wonderful scent. After I had begun cutting the roses a couple of years ago and bringing them in, I noticed the next year the bush had bloomed even more. It was still a little wild looking but the blooms were coming faster than I could cut. After the ones left on the bush began to lose their hold on the petals and they would fall into the flower bed. I would leave those petals in my flower bed. It was pretty and they provided the best nourishment for the bush - it came from the bush. The rose bush if pruned to be less wild I believe would produce as well as the smaller one I saw. Both of these bushes reminded me of truths in the word of God. He says He prunes the vine that produces fruit and chops off those that don't or won't. Why would He prune the bush that produced so much? Because every blossom is good for the season it is in. Last year's blossom would not work the same. Plus if the bloom stayed year after year it could boast in itself to say look how long I have lasted. However, when the bush is pruned and blooms, pruned and blooms, it points towards the keeper - the Vine Dresser - God. I also wondered about pruning the bloom too soon, when it is simply a bud. Think about that for a minute, it will bloom if cared for properly. When I have placed buds in my vase and managed the water I placed them in, it does bloom to its fullest. Sometimes God moves us or calls unto Him and into Heaven. We won't remain a bud - we will bloom. He will send us to a place where our particular bloom is need or He will call us home and complete us into the perfect blossom He had ordained since our creation by Him. He will be faithful to what He began in us and He will continue to prune us so our lives will point only to HIM. He is the Vine Dresser and we are simply the branch. We will be cut away if we don't produce; however, it is not in our work that we bloom, it is in our abiding in Him that this will happen. The branch does nothing except remain grafted in for the sap to flow from the Vine. This is true of the rose bush as well, the blossom comes though the branch but it is not by the branch. Do all rose bushes have to remain small? No, but when they get larger it needs to be because the roots are deep enough to sustain and the trunk is grounded enough not to pull on the roots. No matter how big or small we may seem on this earth our blooms are only due to being grafted into HIM and allowing HIM to do what the Holy Uncreated One is supposed to do. He alone brings forth the fruit. The branch only displays it. He prunes us to point towards Him and He places us to bloom where it is needed for His purpose.
Oh the beauty of the truths it far more fragrant than any rose. He promises if we abide in HIM He will remain in us.

In Haggai the people complained because the temple was not what it once was. It was not as glorious. God quickly taught them it is the dweller that bears the glory and not the dwelling place. He is the Dweller and He is just as glorious as He was before the world began.
2 Corinthians 2: 14-17 - The scent of Christ
14But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? 17Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God
John 15
The Vine and the Branches
1"I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Love to all in Christ Jesus
Rachele