DIGGING AND DUNGING

I likened the scriptures to my own life yesterday when I understood that the Lord has been and continues to prune me. I have been in a heavy-duty pruning season. I have to trust that when the Lord cuts me back, He doesn't do so to destroy me, but to help me bear better fruit. Like the Vineyard, this may be the last time God prunes me before I pass.

I had an additional insight yesterday having to do with what the Lord does after He cuts away the sick and dying branches.  The sequence, I believe, is important.  In Jacob 5: 4-5 we read:

And it came to pass that the master of the vineyard went forth, and he saw that his olive tree began to decay; and he said: I will prune it, and dig about it, and nourish it, that perhaps it may shoot forth young and tender branches, and it perish not. And [he did so] according to his word.

1. PRUNING - I usually recognize when I am being pruned because it is painful.  I can pinpoint times in my life when I was very aware of the pruning process because it caused me to suffer.  But I'm not sure I recognized the second step.

2. DIGGING - After the Lord cuts away the diseased and non-productive branches, He digs around the trees to expose the roots. I never thought much about the digging and it seemed superfluous to dwell on it.  Then, yesterday, I received and insight as I listened to a commentary on Jacob 5 from Book of Mormon Central (a wonderful resource, BTW.) One of the presenters noted that when the servant dug around the root system, he would most surely have severed many of the tiny surface roots.  After extensive pruning, that may seem a little arbitrary until you consider that those little roots nourish the little shoots from the trunk of the tree and not the tree itself.

Wo! Think of the purpose for which God planted the tree: to bring forth fruit.  He did not create it to grow wood, foliage, or to look beautiful: He planted it to grow olives.  In the same way, we are not here to grow in power, prestige, popularity, prosperity or anything else.  We are here to love the Lord and to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Doing that well is the work of a lifetime. How do I serve God? By being obedient and by serving others. As Christ Himself said, On these two commandments hang all of the law and the prophets.
(Matthew 22:40)

One of the parables the Savior gave was about the sower.  I only mention it here because the crux of the parable is the depth to which the roots could grow.  Those plants with shallow roots either failed to sprout all together or, if they did germinate, withered and died soon because the root system was too shallow.  Here is a link to a video to remind us of this parable:

The Parable of the Sower

3. This brings me to step three: Nourishing.  The Lord of the Vineyard instructs His servants to prune, then dig, then dung the tree.  By digging first, when the dung is worked into the dug soil, the nutrients can go deep into the soil and nourish the deep roots of the tree.  Only then can the tree use that nourishment to grow fruit.

Every time the Lord visits His vineyard, he repeats the same process: prune; dig; dung. It must be important for the Lord to instruct His prophet, Zenos, about it at least four times - Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, and now, the last days.


I recognize the hand of the Lord in nourishing and blessing me.  However, I have never connected that to the entire horticultural process with the pruning and the digging.  It is important to remember that when we get caught up in the "Thick of thin things," to quote Elder Neal Maxwell.  We make plans - often extensive plans - of how we think our lives should go.  When we get pruned, digged, and dunged, it is likely because the Lord has other plans for us.  I may be content to build of my life a little cottage when God wants to build of my life a mansion.

In the moment, this nourishing may look like a pile of manure, but remember that the dung on the tree makes the tree grow and, more importantly, develop fruit.  In retrospect, I can look at the times I have been pruned and realize that my shallow, surface roots have also been severed so that God can nourish the deep tap root of my life: to love and serve Him and to love and serve his children.  During this past four years' pruning, I have had many shallow roots severed.  I have grieved because I miss those people and things.  But my life was going in the direction of my plans.*  God has made many of those plans unachievable now, so that I have time to dig deep into my own soul to find God's plans for me.  I have slowed down, out of necessity (because God knew I wouldn't stop on my own.) 

And I am still digging.

© March 2020 Dr. Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson

*One movie I have always enjoyed is Evan Almighty. God calls a Congressman, Evan Baxter, to build an ark like Noah.  In the beginning, Evan fights the process.  In one scene, he is talking to God about his, Evan's, plans, and how God's telling him to build and ark is interfering with those plans.  it is a classic, because the actor portraying God, doubles over and laughs out loud.  Evan asks what He is laughing for and God says, "Your plans!"  I believe God has a great sense of humor and I don't doubt that He has laughed at what I consider to be my plans on many occasions.