Have You Been "Bonsai-Sized?"

Bonsai collection at Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. This Bonsai Buttonwood is approximately 373 years old, collected from the wild in a mangrove in Florida. It was determined to have been growing since 1649!

Creation speaks profound lessons into my soul. While wandering through a botanical garden, I grew more and more fascinated by a collection of bonsai trees. I paused, lingered, and without knowing exactly why, I snapped a few photos to reflect on later.

Here's a glimpse of what God was speaking to me through those tiny trees. I’ve learned that bonsai are not a special species, they are ordinary trees intentionally shaped, pruned, and restrained to remain a fraction of their natural size. In God’s design, these trees are meant to grow tall, offer shade, bear fruit, and multiply. They are designed to thrive.

And yet, with constant trimming, wiring, and repotting, these bonsai will never reach the full measure of what they were created to be.

We are like trees.

The Bible tells us in Isaiah 61:3 that God has made us to be “oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” It brings God glory when we grow, thrive, and flourish in the fullness of who He created us to be. He has planted within each of us a purpose that is unique and powerful-gifts, dreams, and purpose that are not to be minimized but nurtured and released to their full potential.

Just as a bonsai tree is shaped by the hands of a gardener, we are molded and fashioned by God to flourish. We also can be shaped —not for growth, but for limitation. We can be influenced by our enemy as he cuts away at truth, bends our purpose with lies, and tries to bind us into a lesser version of who God says we are.

For me, the "bonsai" tools of the enemy look like:

• “You don’t know what you’re doing.” (Snip—a branch of confidence falls.)

• “People just tolerate you; they don’t actually want you.” (Snip, snip—new growth in relationships is lost before it fully forms.)

• “You’re a goofball; it’s too much for people.” (Wire wraps around a branch, holding it back.)

Jesus spoke plainly about this: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.” – John 10:10

I’m not criticizing the art of bonsai - it is an incredibly skilled and beautiful process. But it offers to teach us something deeply spiritual. We were not created to remain small or live limited lives. The Spirit of God within us yearns for growth, for fruitfulness, for fullness.

God describes Himself in John 15 as the Gardener. Unlike the enemy of our soul who prunes our identity with lies and binds our growth with fear and doubt, our Father prunes the branches so we will bear much fruit. His pruning leads to expansion, not restriction.

Bonsai Fig, approximately 45 years old.

This Bonsai Yew is 63 years old. It was a landscape shrub trained as a Bonsai in 1960.

So today, dear daughters of God, allow me to encourage you:

Do not settle for the bonsai-sized version of yourself.

Do not allow the enemy to convince you that this is all there is.

You were created to thrive in good soil, rooted deeply in the love and truth of Christ as a Mighty Oak Of Righteousness, planted by the Lord.

“Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith… and overflowing with gratitude.” – Colossians 2:6–7

Let’s choose to embrace God’s workmanship of our lives into mighty oaks, full of life and purpose, as we give glory to our God in every season.

Comment below an area where you've perhaps been "bonsai-ed..." into staying small. I'd love to hear from you!

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