It’s pruning time on our farm. For the past week, I’ve watched our new orchard radically change. I wish I’d taken pictures before the shears. But I’ll tell you about it. Just a few years ago, we planted baby fruit trees in front of our house. I didn’t want to do it. I love our view of the Sutter Buttes, but the land needs to provide for us. Our pluot trees grew like wildfire. In just two years you could no longer see our house from the road.

Now suddenly the house is there.

Our once proud pluot trees are half their size. They’ve been cut down to size. The pruning so severe they probably won’t produce fruit this coming year.

The cutting began last week, on the day I was driving back to Urgent Care to have more bamboo cut out of my hand. My right hand. The hand I need to do everything I do. Take care of my boys. Drive my car. Write these blogs. The truth is, I can still do all these things with my hand, but slowly. I’m learning to work slowly and purposefully and humbly with my injured hand.

Yesterday the election unfolded slowly and purposefully and for many in this nation, was a huge humbling experience. To everyone’s astonishment an outsider became an insider in Washington. I was stunned. Not because Trump won, but because the media got it so wrong. Clearly, many Americans have had enough. They’ve elected a man ready to turn over tables in this country. Like him or hate him, Trump is going to fling some tables around in Washington.

In the midst of all this, I just finished reading a powerful little book titled: Enough by Helen Roseveare. She was a missionary doctor in the Congo forty years ago. The whole point of her book is: God is enough. Nations rise and fall. People rise and fall. But through it all, is God enough? Laying everything else down: your rights, your duties, your ambitions, is God enough for you?

Enough.

I asked Santos, our pruner, if he’d cut enough yesterday. Santos speaks mostly Spanish, I speak mostly English, but we both speak human being. Out in the orchard, we smile, we nod, we keep asking our questions in different ways until understanding dawns between us. Santos is shaping our trees for the future. Next year’s crop is most likely a complete loss, but we aren’t pruning for next year. We’re pruning for the lifetime of our young orchard. We want our trees to grow in the most productive way.

I didn’t realize how much I couldn’t see until the trees were severely cut this week. I won’t get into politics or the election today. I’m not a Trump fan. I’m not a Clinton fan. I’m a Jesus fan and I’ve spent a lot of time praying for America. The Bible says, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will” Proverbs 21:1.

This gives me such hope. That God will turn our new president’s heart wherever he will. I don’t need to worry about the future. God is enough for me. Is God enough for you?

Today I was discouraged to discover more bamboo in my hand. It’s deep under the skin. Rising to the surface. Sharp and painful when I write, when I do anything with my right hand. I’ve had enough. I don’t want to go back to Urgent Care for another little surgery this week as I’ve done twice already. But I may have to. We shall see.

In the meantime, I’ll enjoy my new view with our orchard cut in half. And I’ll write slowly and humbly today. Praying you have a humble day too my friend.

If you’re happy over the election be humble. If you’re sad or mad over the election, be humble. And always remember, God is enough.