We Are All Bonsai Trees

I learned a little something today and I've decided that God is a Bonsai gardener. 

My Grandpa Crosland owns a small army of bonsai trees. They vary from pine, maple, multiple kinds of juniper (buffalo, sargent, and nana), ficus, spruce and elm. Basically you can take any tree and transform it into a bonsai tree with the right pruning. 

Now the tree determines the pruning needed. Some trees grow all summer long, like the junipers, and they need to be cut back a few times a year to keep the shape you want. Some trees only grow in the spring like the pine so you only prune them once a year. 

In order for the tree to develop into the desired shape there are multiple and long steps that need to be taken. First you need to inspect the strength and health of the roots and trunk. My grandpa had a tree that came to him half dead so he had to strictly work on saving the roots for a couple years and then progress from there. Once you have a healthy growing tree the shaping comes from winding wire around the branches so that they will grow in the direction you want them too. You have the start the wire far enough back so that the branch is supported, which typically means from the trunk. When you prune the tree it causes that branch to shoot out more leaves or branches causing the leaves to grow together, giving the desired "cloud look effect". 

The trees must be watered everyday. In the winter you bury the pots in saw dust up to the lowest branch. At first I wondered if you could just bring the trees inside to protect them from the snow but my grandpa replied with, "They need to go through everything else that other trees go through. If you bring them inside they'll die. They won't become strong enough."

Heavenly Father knows exactly what shape we are capable of becoming. Some of us require diligent work first on our roots and trunk. We need to develop a stronger foundation, gain a testimony. Some of us need our branches to be redirected. We have to be wired all the way back to our foundation and then out to the furthest tip of the branch in order to grow in the direction that Heavenly Father wants us to. Some of us get cut back more then others. Some are fine just being pruned once a year. But no matter what, we all need to go through some pruning. Trials are the only way that we get tested and can have better growth. It can take years to get to the desired shape but it's the only way that we can turn into that beautiful bonsai tree that God is shaping. 

That's why I think that God is a bonsai tree gardener.