The Parable of the Fern

We don't have many plants at our house, but on the kitchen table there is a fern. The other day, Lacey notices that the soil was getting a little bit moldy, though we had not watered it lately. So today when I was in the kitchen, Lacey mentioned that the fern looked sad. I looked over and about 3/4 of it had been trimmed off! Lacey had a slightly sad look on her face and said, "I hope that my trimming it turns into one of the good conference stories, where we trim of the unnecessary and the plant then flourishes." I thought it was hilarious, and thought to myself, "How many stories came close to being conference-worthy, but then failed. We don't hear those often."