Pruning

Have you ever had a garden? I haven't ever had a personal one, but the high school I attended sure did.
The summer before my Senior year was spent out in hundreds of tomato plants. I am not much of gardener, but i found the alone time appealing so I was happy to get that job. I will never forget the first day my boss was trying to teach me the ropes. I had imagined getting tools such as a hose, or maybe some sort of shovel, but no instead I was handed a pair of scissors.
"Scissors?" I wondered to myself, "What kind of growing will I accomplish with these?"
"A lot actually" Experience responded as the summer progressed.
That day I was taught an important technique of pruning. Those tomato plants were BIG, with lots of leaves and many baby tomatoes, but the fact is that the trunk of the plant could not support it all, and so by cutting off even some of the "good" parts, I helped preserve the life of the plant, and ensured a harvest.
Life is kind of like that sometimes. I have dreams, goals, plenty of things on my bucket list. Coming up with a to-do list is not a problem, but the real issue occurs in the balance of letting some good things go, as an insurance to life itself. Life could easily be summed up in priorities, and while some of my dreams are extremely high priorities I have other responsibilities that are higher.Education is important, its one of the biggest predictors of a "secure" life - and greatly increases ones realm of influence. I have a goal to make a difference in this old planet, and this over arching goal is a priority.  That being said my mission year is delayed (again) but unlike the tomato parts that I cut off, it still is alive, just on a back burner, a goal that will be accomplished one day, someday, in the future.

“As the gardener, by severe pruning, forces the sap of the tree into one or two vigorous limbs, so should you stop off your miscellaneous activity and concentrate your force on one or a few points"

Ralph Waldo Emerson