A Gardener’s Gospel – Week 21
One of the most depressing experiences I ever had was going to a Bonsai exhibition. There were rows upon rows of ‘adult’ trees – maples, oaks, juniper, cypress, beech – no bigger than table-top Christmas decorations. I was horrified to discover that some of these trees were hundreds of years old, but unlike their free cousins in the wild, towering proudly over the earth with their branches stretched heavenwards, these stunted trees would never be allowed to reach their full potential.
Image courtesy of Nicola Whitaker
Pathological micro-management
In the name of art and philosophy, trees are snipped and pruned, tied, wired and uprooted, to make a living sculpture, bent to the will of its maker. This is aesthetic gardening taken to the extreme. I suppose it could be said that anyone who cultivates a patch of land for beauty rather than bounty is guilty to some degree of the same thing, where shrubs are pruned, grass trimmed and flower beds laid out at the gardener’s will. But while domestic gardeners exert a degree of control, it’s nowhere near the pathological micro-management of Bonsai cultivators.
Many Christians are like Bonsai trees, stunted in growth and never reaching their full potential. For some, it’s a matter of choice, as they are happy to remain immature in their Christian walk; for others it is forced on them by abusive leaders and ‘discipleship’ programmes.
Insecure leaders
I’ve been in and around churches for 25 years and have seen my fair share of leaders who try to impose their view of what a Christian should look like on their followers. Beware the insecure leader with a vision! People are forced to follow the latest church growth strategy or discipleship method at the expense of their individuality, then shamed into submission by labelling their honest questioning as rebellion. That is not how God gardens. He has made us all individuals and he deals with us as such. Some people’s personalities and gifting will thrive in one set-up but not in another, and they need to be free to develop as God, rather than man, determines. A good leader will recognise this.
Immature followers
But no matter how good our spiritual leaders are, they will always be frustrated by the voluntary Bonsais in their midst. These are people who have perhaps been brought up in a church or made a commitment many years ago yet have shown little or no growth in their spiritual lives. How is growth measured? In previous sessions we’ve looked at the fruit of the Spirit as listed in Galatians 5: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness and self-control. Fruit on a tree is the physical manifestation of inner growth and development. These qualities are first developed in our inner selves as we co-operate with the healing and sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. Once this inner work is done, these Godly characteristics will eventually become visible to others through our actions. This is a mark of spiritual maturity.
Working on it
In Philippians Paul tells the recipients of his letter to:
work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Phil 2:13
To ‘will’ is an internal decision and to ‘act’ is a physical outworking of that decision. We have to work out our own salvation; effort is needed on our part. This must not be misunderstood as ‘salvation by works’ but rather an ‘outworking’ in and through our lives of the salvation that we have received from God by grace.
The problem is some people do not make the effort. Ten, twenty years after becoming Christians they are still struggling with the same old sins and the same old hurts, not giving nor receiving forgiveness and refusing to let go. As the writer of Hebrews comments:
By this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again – you need milk, not solid food.
Heb 5:12
Like babies, people like this are more concerned about what they can get from the church rather than what they can give. And like children, they will throw a strop if they don’t get it!
Fear and pride
So how do people become Bonsai Christians? I would suggest that it’s a combination of pride and fear. They fear what will happen if they let the Holy Spirit deal with issues in their lives and they are too proud to admit to others that they even have problems. Or perhaps they don’t really believe that God can heal, forgive or restore them so they won’t allow Him to get too near in case they are disappointed. Now while not all of us are Bonsai Christians all of us must recognise times in our lives when our growth has slowed or we’ve become stunted. Are fear and pride at work in our lives? Are we selfishly hanging on to our life as it is because of what we fear might be asked or demanded of us? I know that I fear ‘getting too deep’ at the moment in case God asks me to sacrifice my time and energy on some new ministry. With that sort of risk-averse attitude I’m in danger of becoming a bit of a Bonsai myself.
The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.
Mark 4:31-32
Welcome to my site - I'm Fiona Veitch Smith, a freelance journalist, author, playwright and writing teacher. This site contains thoughts and articles I've written on a range of topics. I hope you find them useful.
I had never thought of bonsai in that way – I always thought they looked rather good and quite fancied buying one. Now i feel sorry for them! But how true that so often in the very place where we should grow and flourish we end up stunted and grown only into the position that church allows us, as if we can grow to the edges of an invisible box but no further. It may not be intentional but the result is lack of development and understanding of God.
May we all find the level and direction of growth that is right for us.
Amen to that Karen. And I’m glad I’ve opened your eyes to the horror that is bonsai. I’m still waiting form my first hate mail from bonsai growers …
I wouldn’t call it hate mail, that’s a bit strong. Stuart has a couple of seedlings that he’s been growing for he past few years for the express purpose of growing a bonsai. I think sometimes we need to think outside the plant pot because God shapes, hones and prunes us to make us better and more effective. I think these wee, miniature trees are more beautiful than their huge brothers and sisters. I agree that Christians’ growth can be stunted by not just their leaders but others around them limiting what they’re capable of (certainly, I didn’t really feel I blossomed as a person and Christian until I moved away from Belfast). It’s funny because a few of my friends did comment and apologise for limiting my abilities. I guess sometimes people are more aware than we given them credit for and therefore I am probably guilty also of the stunting. Isn’t life completely cyclical?!!
Sorry rambling now.
Love P
On the plant front: each to their own! I know some very nice people who love Bonsai, but they really do disturb me (the plants not the people!). Whatever side of the bonsai divide we fall on, it’s still a useful metaphor. How touching that people actually apologised to you for limiting your abilities! Now that’s God’s grace in action.
Hi Fiona
I was reading this entry quite happily (smugly?) until I reached the last few sentences where you talk about your own risk-averse atttiude in case you get drawn in to new ministries. Then I realised that you were describing my current state very accurately!
There’s a complacency – and pride – about being involved in specific areas for a long time, which sometimes needs to be challenged.
On the plant side of things I find Bonsais intriguing but not particularly appealling. Having said that many plants – and people – benefit from regular pruning, encouraging growth in the areas desired by the gardener rather than the plant. In some cases this increases fruitfulness, in others it’s a question of control. Now – like an un-pruned bramble – I’m rambling, so I’ll stop.
Thanks again.
Yeah, I was rather smug writing it until I got to the end too!
Dear Fiona, your post has been published at Carnival of Walking with God, hosted at http://underzodiacclock.com
Please, let everyone know, and link to that site.
Thank You,
Ella Moss
Lord God made all plants to grow almost wherever their seed has fallen down and simply make the best of it. If you happen to live in a town and walk around with open eyes, you’ll find plants in most unbelievable places, and even trees.
To survive in all those places is their biggest potential. To become a giant is just an ability.
So, there are two choices: make the best of the situation and
grow, or die.
Those, who get the opportunity to grow big by getting enough space and food, will do so immediately. But at least they can give the chance to the next generation.
Those who are dead, will not do anything.
BTW: the more colorful the leaves show in autumn, the better the year has been for the tree.
The American Oak, also called Red Oak, will get less and less red in autumn the older the tree gets. As a Bonsai the color stays in age. Whilst the wild one stays lifelong on always the same ground, the Bonsai gets a new fresh ground and a root cut every few years.
A wild growing tree will grow as big as it can, so one day it might become just too big for the material to hold, and it breaks down. So a tree can die of its own pure size and weight. Such thing surely will not happen to a Bonsai.
Marion, I must say I was reluctant to approve a comment from anyone who has ’spammail’ in their email address! What’s that about? However, you make some good points and I thank you for your contribution to the discussion.
Fiona
Please don’t take it serious
I use several different adresses, some especially for sites I am not sure about. This is my first time here and I had to enter any to write a comment. I thought it was not to be seen?
I followed a Bonsai Forum and somebody had posted a link.
Not all Bonsai come from seed which may have had a better chance if it did not fall into this kind of gardners hands. Many Bonsai are built up on Yamadori, plants found anywhere out there, which did not grow up normal anyway, stayed small for any reason. You can find them in streets, gardens, graveyard dustbins, hedges and any other wooden plants to be rooted out. Mom’s calling: “There’s an oak in my salad patch!” They got a new life.
Another interesting thought: many trees can grow new roots on a cut branch, and one method to get a Bonsai is to do so. Nevertheless it’s still the same tree. Same DNA and everything.
Isn’t a tree kinda immortal with this?
Bonsai will never become a big tree. But with some luck and good hands of their new gardener people also will stand stunned and look in disbelief on what is a model of a big, beautiful, well grown tree, Lord Gods wonderful work at its best.
http://www.artofbonsai.org/galleries/zhao.php
(The one with the horse is my favorite)
Hi Marion, I would be careful using spoof email addresses. No they can’t be seen on-site but I as the administrator see them as I need to check out that you’re legit and not a spammer. By actually announcing in your email that you’re a spammer (or suggesting it) it is practically begging the site administrator to put your comment in the spam bin. Some sites will do this automatically. You’re lucky that I actually read your comment and used my discernment – even though I still disagree with you about Bonsai
Still hate the things.