pruned that we might prosper
“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.
“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15. 1-5 NLT)
happy earth day.
I used to love those verses … now I’m not so sure. They invoke a lot of pain, uncertainty and loss.
No doubt pruning is painful. Often we don’t see the point. We are cruising along and “growing” and changing and then… after years and years of productive growth we are “chopped to bits.”
The pictures of my 30 year old pear tree that I pruned this winter were a reminder to me that even when I feel like the pruning is killing me, “I’m not dead yet!” The pictures remind me that new life can still emerge and that hope in the darkness however slim is hope nonetheless.