An elderly woman had miniature rose bushes in front of her house. Every fall her neighbor would tell her that if she’d prune the dead growth from the bushes, they would be even more beautiful the next spring. The rose owner was not interested in following this advice. She would reply that her father had planted them, and nobody was going to cut off any part of them. Sadly, the bushes got smaller and produced less blooms every year. When this elderly woman died, the new owners of the house immediately pulled them up and planted new shrubbery. The woman’s unwillingness to prune the roses caused her to miss the potential beauty they contained. In addition, if she had pruned the roses, perhaps the new owners would’ve kept them, and her father’s legacy could’ve lived on. We all go through painful times in life, and we often we curse them and pray for them to pass. But what if those times are actually times of pruning, purging, and cutting back the dead growth in our lives? What if those times are actually what will cause us to grow and bloom as a fruitful person? Don’t despise the tough times; instead, look for the beauty that can come from them. When we’re willing to change, true beauty emerges.