Dead Heading

I was out in front of the church one day, "dead heading" (plucking off the dead flowers) the flowers that were planted there. My mom is crazy about "dead heading" flowers ! My mom's plants look totally awesome. This is one reason why. She never leaves the dead flowers on to zap the lifeblood from the new buds. As she prunes these plants, it allows for energy to be put into the new buds. It takes so much strength for a dying flower to become a seed.. but if you pluck that dead/dying flower from the stem, it allows new growth to happen without much effort. As I was "dead heading" the church flowers, it became so clear to me why we have to dead head our own lives. I thought about how much that plant would bunch out and how great the blooms would look... what joy it would bring to others. The more we prune back, the more we bloom. If you have a branch that is dead, get rid of it. If you have a branch that needs pruned, prune it. If you have a branch that is flourishing, continue to nourish it.