One of my favorite trees is the Japanese Maple.  We have 4 of them in our yard.  When they are trimmed up properly, they are beautiful with their long and far reaching branches… ….but when I don’t get around to trimming them….their branches become heavy….and they droop….and they don’t look right….….and if the trimming is neglected long enough….the weight of the limbs becomes a burden to the tree….and wounds form….and scars form…The process of trimming takes effort and time….if you want to grow big and strong.   The process requires you to step back and look….look for the places that are heavy laden.  And the process actually begins underneath the tree….in the places that aren’t visible at first glance….you have to trim from the inside out.  The burdensome, heavier limbs have to be unloaded….so that instead of drooping, the branches can rise towards the sunshine.   Because without the proper Light you can’t grow to be strong….and without the proper trimming you can’t reach the destiny God has for you….

Psalms 38:4….For my iniquities have gone over my head; Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.

Psalms 55:22….Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

Psalms 1:1-3….Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.  He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

Hosea 14:4-9….“I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from him.  I will be like the dew to Israel; He shall grow like the lily, And lengthen his roots like Lebanon. His branches shall spread; His beauty shall be like an olive tree, And his fragrance like Lebanon.  Those who dwell under his shadow shall return; They shall be revived like grain, And grow like a vine.  Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.   “Ephraim shall say, ‘What have I to do anymore with idols?’  I have heard and observed him.  I am like a green cypress tree; Your fruit is found in Me.”  Who is wise?  Let him understand these things.  Who is prudent?  Let him know them.  For the ways of the Lord are right; The righteous walk in them, But transgressors stumble in them.

Matthew 11:28…Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

If you are heavy laden…if you have wounds and scars that need tending to…God is waiting for you…

John 15: 1-3…“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful…”

If you don’t know Jesus as your personal Savior, you can go here to say a Sinner’s Prayer.  If you would like to speak with someone from our church you can go here.