I was wondering. Why do we often do so much pruning, but often fail to do the necessary fertilizing too?

I was thinking about it, because I reflected on the people who really helped me grow. The people who helped me grow most were not the ones who criticized me the most, but those who encouraged me, especially in the areas of my strengths.

I remember having a scary teacher in Primary 4. She would constantly pick on me and find fault with me. I remember one particular moment. I enjoyed my Science so much, that I went and filled in all the other pages of my workbook ahead of the lesson plan.

My classmate saw it, and happened to tell the teacher about it.

She looked at me, and started scolding me in front of the other students for not flowing along with the other students. That I was being individualistic by not following the lesson plans.

I wilted. And my Science workbook became a pain to do.

But thank God for Mrs Lee in Primary 5 and 6. She was the discipline mistress, just like the other teacher. But she really cared for us all. I remember she saw that I had potential, and encouraged and affirmed me.

And like a plant in sunshine, I grew in confidence.

Though I had many weaknesses and lack of social skills, she chose to focus on the strengths I did have. She patiently encouraged me in my strengths.

In the end, I topped my school for my batch.

I really thank God for Mrs Lee. =) She's a great teacher.

:)

I also thought about the area of my relationships. I remember, back in my uni days, during my darkest moments of my life, there was this event where we were all supposed to write encouragement messages to one another. There was this tiny notebook each one of us received. As I flipped through it, I read this message hastily scribbled by one of the leaders...

It read (in all its entirety): "Hope to see you grow in your relationships with people."

My heart sank. I was in pain already, and I felt crushed by that "encouragement".

But after I turned to God again, God sent some beautiful people along. They did not focus on my weaknesses and inadequacies. Instead, they loved me, and told me what they really enjoyed about me. And when they saw a significant weakness in me, they corrected me, and then re-affirmed their love for me.

My heart started singing again. And when they also affirmed me in my relational strengths, I was heartened, and I started working on these strengths.

I remember Hong Teck too. Thank God for how he encouraged me not to focus on my weaknesses, but rather, to focus on my character and strengths. 'Cos, as he pointed out, life's too short to worry about what we cannot do. So might as well spend it on growing the strengths God gave me. Of course, he also corrected me at times.

However, there was another bro who told me that if I improve on in my weaknesses, I'll become a better person. I think that is true only if it's character weaknesses. Because life's too short to worry about what we do not have in terms of abilities.

So, when we prune, it's to prune the areas that are hindering our strengths from bearing even more fruit. Otherwise, if we prune too much, at best, the plant'll become a bonsai plant - nice to look at, but no good for anything else.

Because God designed us to be big and fruitful plants, well-pruned and well-nourished. Not like tiny fruitless bonsai plants.