When God Thins Your Garden

God periodically takes me through seasons when He seems to remove my close friends. It may be that they get married or have kids, or move away, or simply become too busy to spend time with me. This invariably coincides with some time off, and I end up racking my brain to try to think of a friend to come over or to go on a trip with me, only to realize that there's no one left.

During those times, it can feel like I've been forgotten, left out, or left behind. But the reality is that God is doing a purposeful work.

It's a bit like a garden. You see, a good gardener plants his (or her) seeds, and then lets them grow up together until they need more room. Then, the gardener will uproot some of the plants and transplant them or discard them to give the seedlings that are left more room to grow.

That is what God does with us. He sometimes removes a friend we've been growing alongside in order to give us both more room to grow.

I can look back at those seasons when God has "thinned" my garden patch and see how God has used the absence of friends to help me grow stronger and closer to Him in ways I never would have otherwise. My friends are a help, certainly, but they can also become a distraction, and I think sometimes God wants to clear away the people I lean on so that I have no other option but to learn to lean fully on Him. 

Seasons of thinning can be lonely, and naturally so, since we were designed for fellowship. But in those lonely times, we can take comfort in the fact that God has allowed these limitations for a good purpose. Our loneliness reminds us to seek His face, to learn that His presence is enough for this season. After all Romans 8:28 applies to the seasons of  "thinning" just as much as it does to the seasons when we are surrounded by friends. As Elisabeth Elliot once stated, "God never does anything to us that isn't for us."*

We are not forgotten, we are not left out, we are not left behind. God has merely cleared some space for us to grow. The thinning is not a punishment, but a blessing, if we will only yield to God's purpose in it and look to Him for comfort and peace.

And remember, each season of life is just that: a season. We are simply to accept each one as it comes, trusting that God knows what He is doing.

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." (Jeremiah 29:11)

*Elisabeth Elliot, Be Still My Soul: Reflections on Living the Christian Life. Revell: Grand Rapids, 2003. p. 27