Pruning your business means envisioning a transformed business built on
what works. That new business is your vision. A great technique for
showing what’s different is to make a chart listing key aspects of the
business, and then showing “old way” followed by “new way” for each.
Pruning gives us hope and perseverance to work through the pain of our problems rather than avoid or deny them.
I envisioned a valley of dry bones. Bones from marriages, relationships, and dreams abandoned because many people refused to die to themselves, to humble themselves, and to let God have His way in their lives.
Augustine called pride the "mother of all heretics" and if that is the case, what kind of pruning needs to happen in our lives to get rid of pride.
Pruning of reputation and self-righteousness: While He’s pruning us for fruitfulness, you can be sure He’s going to test us by changing up our plans to see whether we’ll accept His will as the final call, or whether we’ll pout and get in strife. Work toward a particular end just to have the Holy Spirit show up and shut it all down for a different direction entirely. When it happens, can we joyfully handle submission, or will we instead defy Him by trying to “get ours” while we’ve got the chance to do so? How you and I respond in these these testing moments either adds to or depreciates our stock value! Can God trust us? Is He really Lord of all?
Sports metaphors and sports heroes have become normal reference points for both Christian and secular leadership contexts. Climbing the ladder in the corporate world often includes the necessity of pushing others off the ladder. Competition can be fierce and not always friendly. Ego battles in the legal and medical professions is legendary and the brunt of many jokes.
Spiritual formation in our inner world means we need to be pruned of our self-righteousness.
Choosing not to be consumed with efficiency is a great freedom that allows greater flexibility and spontaneity. As Jesus taught, it is not efficient to go after the one lost sheep at the expense of the other ninety-nine, but it is the right choice.
Pruning of soliciting praise: Calling attention to our previous contributions can be a form of one-upmanship that is off-putting to others. When I find myself wanting more attention or recognition, it is a blaring reminder of my need for a greater awareness of God's grace in my life.
When Jesus taught His disciples about the necessity of spiritual pruning, He did so in the context of friendship and not of power.
Examen comes from a Latin word referring to the weight indicator on a balance. Just as it takes some time for the swinging examen to settle after the weights are added, so it takes time for us to see where our lives are in balance or need some adjustment or pruning.
When did I feel very frustrated, dissatisfied or alone from God's Spirit?
Pruning gives us hope and perseverance to work through the pain of our problems rather than avoid or deny them.
I envisioned a valley of dry bones. Bones from marriages, relationships, and dreams abandoned because many people refused to die to themselves, to humble themselves, and to let God have His way in their lives.
Augustine called pride the "mother of all heretics" and if that is the case, what kind of pruning needs to happen in our lives to get rid of pride.
Pruning of reputation and self-righteousness: While He’s pruning us for fruitfulness, you can be sure He’s going to test us by changing up our plans to see whether we’ll accept His will as the final call, or whether we’ll pout and get in strife. Work toward a particular end just to have the Holy Spirit show up and shut it all down for a different direction entirely. When it happens, can we joyfully handle submission, or will we instead defy Him by trying to “get ours” while we’ve got the chance to do so? How you and I respond in these these testing moments either adds to or depreciates our stock value! Can God trust us? Is He really Lord of all?
Sports metaphors and sports heroes have become normal reference points for both Christian and secular leadership contexts. Climbing the ladder in the corporate world often includes the necessity of pushing others off the ladder. Competition can be fierce and not always friendly. Ego battles in the legal and medical professions is legendary and the brunt of many jokes.
Spiritual formation in our inner world means we need to be pruned of our self-righteousness.
So don’t destroy yourself by being too good or acting too smart!- Ecclesiastes 7:14Pruning of passion to maximise life: Sporting events, a weekend at the lake, a wide-open schedule are all good things, and there is some measure of life in them. But if you recall, when Jesus talks about pruning, He is not talking about cutting dead wood out of our lives. The pruning that Jesus speaks of means cutting out living, growing pieces of our life, not because they are obviously dead, but simply because they do not bear spiritual fruit.
Choosing not to be consumed with efficiency is a great freedom that allows greater flexibility and spontaneity. As Jesus taught, it is not efficient to go after the one lost sheep at the expense of the other ninety-nine, but it is the right choice.
Pruning of soliciting praise: Calling attention to our previous contributions can be a form of one-upmanship that is off-putting to others. When I find myself wanting more attention or recognition, it is a blaring reminder of my need for a greater awareness of God's grace in my life.
When Jesus taught His disciples about the necessity of spiritual pruning, He did so in the context of friendship and not of power.
Servants don’t know what their master is doing, and so I don’t speak to you as my servants. I speak to you as my friends, and I have told you everything that my Father has told me. - John 15:15God's pruning of us does not come out of anger but out of love and self-revelation.
Examen comes from a Latin word referring to the weight indicator on a balance. Just as it takes some time for the swinging examen to settle after the weights are added, so it takes time for us to see where our lives are in balance or need some adjustment or pruning.
When did I feel very frustrated, dissatisfied or alone from God's Spirit?
A person dwells in a state of desolation when she or he is moving away from God’s active presence in the world. We know we are moving in this way when we sense the growth of resentment, ingratitude, selfishness, doubt, fear, and so on. If my outlook becomes increasingly gloomy and self-obsessed, I am in a state of desolation. I am resisting God or, if not actively resisting, I am being led away from God by other influences. - St. Ignatius
