Tied in Place

When you're growing climbing roses on your trellis, you tie the vines in place so they don't go where they're not supposed to go.

You also invite a particular type of growth:

My husband ties the main runner vines to encourage them into horizontal growth. With horizontal growth, the main vine sends out many stems to move upward and creates beautiful flowers all over the trellis.

With just vertical growth, the runner won't stem off, and you'll only have blooms at the very top of your trellis. It's a growth that happens too quickly and without any branching.

I glance at my trellis today and feel thankful for those years I felt tied in place somewhere. I wanted all this growth and excitement and movement, but instead, I stayed put and moved deeper into my community. I sent out stems that bloomed.

If I feel stuck somewhere spiritually, emotionally, or physically, perhaps I'm being tied in place for some horizontal growth. This kind of pruning makes for something exquisite, but it takes time and what must feel like an imprisoned kind of binding. It's not this at all, but rather the necessary training for the roses to bloom abundantly.