Pick Up the Shears

The bushes had been left alone too long, wild, overgrown, choking out the good grass. It didn’t matter how nice the rest of the yard looked; the mess was obvious.

I kept telling myself I’d get to it “soon.” But soon never came. Until finally, I grabbed the shears, stepped outside, and faced the mess. It wasn’t easy. The roots had grown deep. The branches snapped back at me. Sweat poured as I hacked away.

And then it hit me: this is exactly what happens in a man’s life when he ignores what needs pruning.

Overgrowth Always Spreads

Here’s the hard truth: neglect always produces growth, but it’s never the kind of growth you want.

Sin, laziness, and distraction, which never stay small. They creep. They multiply. They choke out everything good God is trying to cultivate in your life. You can have a good job. You can have a decent marriage. You can sit in a pew every Sunday. But if you leave parts of your life unpruned, it will eventually show. Everyone will see the weeds.

That’s why Hebrews 12:1 calls us to “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely.” The problem is that most men would rather mow around the mess. They’ll cut the grass around the edges, make things look neat on the surface, but never actually deal with the wild overgrowth in their lives.

And just like those bushes, the longer you ignore it, the deeper the roots grow.

Clearing Hurts, Ignoring Kills

Let’s be real, it’s easier to walk back inside, sit on the couch, and let it go another day. It’s easier to scroll, to numb out, to tell yourself you’ll “fix it tomorrow.”

But ease is a lie. Ignoring the problem only makes it worse.

That’s how habits form. That’s how sin digs in. That’s how a man who once stood strong for his family slowly becomes weak, because he refused to do the hard work when the problem was still small.

Clearing hurts. It’s sweaty, messy, and frustrating work. But ignoring destroys. And here’s the truth no man wants to hear: your family grows in the space you clear, or withers in the weeds you ignore.

When you refuse to confront the overgrowth, it’s not just you who suffers. Your wife, your children, the people who look to you for leadership, they inherit the thorns you refused to cut back.

Pruning Makes Room for Growth

Clearing isn’t glamorous. Nobody applauds a man for ripping out weeds or cutting down brush. Nobody posts pictures of bare dirt.

But that’s where real growth begins.

John 15:2 says, “Every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” Even the good things in your life, your strengths, your disciplines, your successes, God cuts them back so they can grow stronger.

That means pruning isn’t punishment. It’s preparation.

Men talk big about building businesses, ministries, and legacies. That’s good. But no house is built in a thicket. No legacy grows in wasted ground. If you want to build, you first need to clear.

Think about David before he became king. He didn’t start on the throne; he started in the fields, clearing lions and bears out of the flock. Or think about Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Before new stones could be laid, rubble had to be removed. Clearing always comes before building.

The Work No One Sees

This is why many men never get to building. Clearing is slow. Clearing is quiet. Clearing doesn’t come with recognition. But every man who refuses to clear eventually collapses under the weight of what he ignored. His overgrowth becomes his downfall.

On the other hand, the man who clears faithfully even when no one notices is preparing space for God to move. His clearing is an act of obedience. And obedience always precedes blessing.

Pick Up the Shears

When I finally finished cutting those bushes, the yard looked different. It wasn’t perfect. But it could breathe again. And in that clearing, there was now room to build something better.

That’s the call for us. Don’t wait for perfect conditions. Don’t wait until the roots are so deep they can’t be pulled. Don’t wait until your family is gasping for air under the weeds of your neglect.

Brother, pick up the shears. Clear your sin. Clear your schedule. Clear the ground.

And then don’t just leave it bare. Don’t just trim back what’s choking you. I walked out with a bottle of Roundup and killed off what had been spreading, so it couldn’t come back. That’s what repentance looks like. Not just cutting sin down, but destroying it at the root.

Because the man who only trims will fight the same battle again and again. But the man who kills the weeds at the root leaves room for new life to grow.