Pruning Process

thoughts inspired from John 15:1-17

This weekend we had a chance to fund-raise for Young Life camp at a ranch. While the boys worked on moving bricks, one of my girls & I pruned flowers. Hard work ;)

Pruning is just cutting away the dead parts. The whole time I was pruning flowers I was thinking about John 15 how Jesus says he prunes us. Katrina was telling me that if you don’t cut off the dead parts the whole pant focuses so much on trying to bring it back to life that it goes into survival mode. When the plants are in survival mode it doesn’t allow other flowers to grow. You end up with a bush with a lot of dead flowers that need to be cut away. The plant needs a Gardner to come remove the dead parts. Pruning is key in keeping the plants healthy. 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.  You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.  Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."  John 15:1-4

 The Gardner needs to actively be working on the plants to keep them alive. Can't you see why Jesus is telling us this? Do I want God cutting things out of my life? Of course not. It's a painful process. You are naked before him without all this dead stuff covering up who you really are. You have to wait for the new flowers to grow. We have to invite God to be apart of our whole lives, not just the parts we feel comfortable offering up to Him. That may be why the verses repeatedly says remain in Me.

We have to trust that the Gardner knows what He is doing as He prunes things out of our lives. We need to stop working so hard to protect our dead parts so God can allow something new & beautiful to grow. It is hard to let go of these things that have been apart of us for so long. It is hard to accept the loss. There is no denying these truths. God is with us in the midst of all this pruning process. It is up to us to remain in Him.

I believe with everything I am that when we offer ourselves up to the Gardner to do whatever He wants with our lives something new will grow. I believe it will be something better than what we were so desperately trying to protect. The only way we can experience this resurrection is to let him crucify these things in us. 

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

Do not let fear hold you back. Never in the bible does God say do not be sad or do not be happy. Jesus is with us in our pain as we let go of the things that need to die in us. He walks through the loss with us. He celebrates with us as we find new life. But 365 times the bible says do not fear. (That number is an aprx. I've found on multiple websites) 365 times. I think God was trying to make a point by telling us the same thing over and over. Feel your feelings: anger, depression, joy, peace, heartbreak. Whatever it is. All of it. But as followers of Jesus we have nothing to fear. 

Quite simply, we have all we need. I heard in a meeting recently that we are like millionaires begging for money not knowing we already have all we need.  So my friends, I challenge you as I take this challenge myself to surrender to our loving God. Do not let fear of the unknown stop you from going where God wants to take you. Let's no longer be paralyzed by fear of letting go. Fear will not consume us, God will. I pray you & I can grow more and more in trust and that fear won't run our lives.

Seek the Lord while you can find him.
    Call on him now while he is near. 

 Let the wicked change their ways
    and banish the very thought of doing wrong.
Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them.
    Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
    “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so my ways are higher than your ways
    and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

 Isaiah 55:6-9