Number 1 - Anna looks much too grown up in this photo than I would like to accept.
Number 2 - We took down this lovely jasmine vine yesterday, in preparation for painting that will (hopefully) start this week.
I have loved this jasmine vine and how it has added a beautiful wall of green to our front entry. In the spring the blossoms smell absolutely amazing. Even though we enter & exit the house through the garage 99% of the time, during the spring I always have to take a detour to the front porch to take a whiff of of this stuff. I took care to trim the vines down so that they have a chance to grow back and fill this area again one day.
I was a little nervous though, wondering if I had pruned away too much or possibly clipped at the wrong places in the vine growth. But, I quickly remembered that I have done this many times before to other perennials and they have always, always come back.
They want to grow.
Much like us, it is in our nature to push toward growth when we are clipped back. First, there is a pause to grieve, question, feel sorrow or anger. But if we let it happen, and accept the process, we can grow back into something beautiful and stronger than before.
"Our Heavenly Father, who gives us so much to delight in, also knows that we learn and grow and become stronger as we face and survive the trials through which we must pass. We know that there are times when we will experience heartbreaking sorrow, when we will grieve, and when we may be tested to our limits. However, such difficulties allow us to change for the better, to rebuild our lives in the way our Heavenly Father teaches us, and to become something different from what we were—better than we were, more understanding than we were, more empathetic than we were, with stronger testimonies than we had before.
Were it not for challenges to overcome and problems to solve, we would remain much as we are.
