back on the farm

So the other night, I had the distinct pleasure of helping my mom with a task which everyone loves... "nipping" the goat's hooves. For those of you not from the farm, let me explain... Essentially it involves wrestling the goat to the ground, physically pinning her on her back, and cutting her toenails with a large set of plier-like clippers. Let me be clear: Goats hate this; mine in particular! However, the process is entirely necessary.

If the hooves are not nipped, they grow over the soft pads of the foot, and often allow dirt and gunk to accumulate on the foot, leading to infection, rot, and in general, bad things. But sometimes the process of cutting the hooves feels more painful than necessary. The goat ends up on her back, sometimes the hoof bleeds if you get too close to the foot itself, and often times, there is an uncomfortable pressure, as the hoof is cleaned out.

As I was sitting on top of my goat, holding her down, and listening to her moan, I started to think about how often times when God has to clean out my heart, my reaction is very similar to my goat's. While God is merely cutting off dead skin, and cleaning out areas which have grown hard, calloused, or infectious, I often moan and cry as if he were purposefully hurting me. He has to prune our hearts, so that they too do not grow infectious or harmful, and sometimes this is a painful process. But ultimately, it is done for our good. And if it is not done, then like my goat, when her hooves are not nipped, we start to limp in our walk. We too begin to suffer the consequences of a life and a heart which are not properly maintained. Sometimes the pruning process comes close to our hearts, and sometimes it's painful. But ultimately, God has our best in mind. And if he doesn't clean out the JUNK in my heart, then I too will not be able to walk the walk that he has planned for me...