Boom Follows Bust

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October 27, 2008

“Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it, that it may bring forth more fruit.�…“I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.� John 15:2, 5 I am writing this blog looking at out at a hedge that has a few branches shooting out above the rest of the hedge. It is mostly in shape, just a few overly exuberant branches growing out of sync with the rest. What it needs is a light trim. Sometimes we are like that. Doing mostly fine with just a thing or two out of balance that God wants to trim. But if I leave the hedge alone until Spring, it will get way out of control and it will be time for a major pruning. Sometimes when we avoid the minor pruning the Holy Spirit does through the Word when we choose not to be trimmed back by its instruction, He sends in something a little harder to ignore. Tough circumstances. That feels a lot more brutal but usually has the effect of making us more receptive to the still small voice of the Lord and the guidance of Scripture. There are bushes however that are perfectly fine, doing just what they are supposed to do and are only pruned way back for one purpose. That purpose is not to punish or correct, but simply to create more fruitfulness. Perhaps that’s you. Knowing the purpose of the pruning doesn’t make it less painful, but at least we can take some comfort in what we know is to follow. Yesterday I was interviewed on a radio station and was asked “What about all the folks who are now losing their homes due to current economic conditions?� Well first of all, it is sad and it is painful but I also believe it is a pruning of sorts. When the pruning is done, healing begins and a season of fruitfulness opens up better than before and that is something to look forward to. Fruitfulness always follows pruning. Boom follows bust. It’s just the way things cycle. Better to understand the cycles and cooperate with them than to whine and complain and fight against them. Read my chapter called Strangler Fig Phenomenon in Rainforest Strategy to learn how to cooperate with and profit from cycles. Speaking of pruning, it seems the US markets dodged the bullet on Friday, but this week is quite another thing and possibly another one for the record books. Collapsing hedge funds look like the trigger this time. I am planning on attending a teleseminar this week that speaks to causes and remedies for the madness going on in our economy. Check it out here for details.

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