Whenever I Plant Trees, I Ruthlessly Prune Them

Isn’t it unsatisfying when the truth is not thoroughly embedded into you?

When a tree is planted, it is unsatisfying if the roots are weak. Even if you replant the tree, new leaves will only grow if the roots are anchored into the ground. However, if the roots are weak, then leaves will never grow.

A tree is alive when it produces leaves. When moving a pine tree, some people leave all the leaves because they think the leaves are too precious to be removed. However, you shouldn’t move a tree like that. You have to pull out all the leaves.

The new leaves will die if the old leaves remain.

You should leave only 1 out of every 100 leaves and pull the rest out.

In this way, faith, too, will die if it becomes old.

If you leave your opinions and thoughts in the former times, then even if you come to the new history, it is death.

This is a law—the law of individuals, the law of nature, the law of morality.

While I was planting a pine tree, I said, “You have been raised in the same old way until now. I will be the one to give you water and raise you. So, I’m sorry, but I have to tear off all your leaves. In the world, you have to cut off regrets. Cut them all off. You will live when you cut them all off. Though it may seem like a loss now, new branches will grow after three years.”

Whenever I plant trees, I trim them ruthlessly.

Although the leaves of the Zelkova trees at the entrance of the sports field have bloomed, I don’t think they will stay healthy. Their leaves are dark. It is because there is an imbalance between the amount of water they are absorbing and how much foliage it has, especially when the leaves are blooming. The tree simply cannot absorb enough water.

I know well because I manage lives.

The day before yesterday, I saw that a pine tree on a rock was red. I told someone to water it, but they only gave it fertilizer. If a person is dying because they are dehydrated, will they live if you only give them food? In this situation, you have to give them water.

I told that person to give the pine tree ten containers of water and balance the tree by trimming its branches. A pine tree that is on a rock dries quickly, so I have to keep giving it water.

It is really difficult when people try to plant a pine tree on a rock. It takes 50 years to simply raise one properly. Human beings are insignificant in this way. During the time they raise a single pine tree, their life begins to an end. People think that they will do tremendous work in their lives, but if their perceptions are skewed, they will end up only doing small work in their lives.

Therefore, you have to think well.

~Excerpt from the morning message of June 2, 1998; Pastor Jung Myung Seok

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