Suffering is never pleasant. We never welcome trials as we do joys, for suffering always brings sorrow, it always brings pain. Sometimes a loved one is taken from us and we experience the aching grief of absence. Sometimes we suffer the loss of money, property, or position and we mourn what has been torn from us. Sometimes we are tried by sickness or unremitting pain and we lament the pleasures we can no longer enjoy. No matter how suffering comes and no matter the form it takes, it is always painful. And it is in our pain we need to remember the words of Jesus who said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. … Every branch that bears fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:1–2).
God is a gardener and we are branches under his care. He looks after us with all the attentiveness of a gardener who longs to see his vine bear fruit. He tends us, he nourishes us, and when necessary he prunes us. And though we do not welcome those times when pains cut deep into our souls, we have this confidence: No
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