Pruning, it's one of those crucial things to do with several plants. It's something I need to do with my wife's roses, and two of my raspberry bushes right now. And it's something I'm procrastinating on getting to. It's one of those tasks that is vitally important, but it takes some time and effort to do correctly. Plus there is always the clean up afterwards. And I only have three plants to work on right now!
Pruning is important because a plant can produce one of two things, wood/leaves or flowers/fruit. A plant only has so much energy that it is able to put towards growth and production, and if pruning doesn't take place that vital energy is spent on the previous option. If I want my raspberries to be able to give me a late season harvest I have to go out and cut away the dead and dying branches. If I want my wife's roses to continue to bloom I need to get my clippers and cut away the dead flowers and excess shoots. Otherwise I'm just going to have a couple green bushes for the deer to munch on.
I'm a big fan of plants (if these couple posts on gardening haven't told you already), but I'm not a big fan of plants that don't produce edible material. We have the roses because they are my wife's favorite flower, and I have one or two other decorative plants I'd like to put on a landscape at some point in the future for looks, but I'm not one of those people who will have flowers growing in every open spot in the yard. I hate annuals (the plants that live for a single season and die) because they are too much work for so little enjoyment. It's crucial that I do my pruning so that big, healthy fruit can be produced, otherwise I end up with a landscape that I really don't want.
As you're reading this you probably think you know where I'm going. "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (Matthew 7.19), but no that's not what I'm getting at with this.
I want you to think of your life as a seed, a seed with unlimited potential. At some point someone came along and planted the seed in sunny spot. It was watered properly, and it began to grow. As it matures it get's taller and stronger, soaking up the sun light and pulling water and nutrients from the soil. And then it buds, the flowers begin to appear, and as the seasons change those flowers begin to transform into fruit. But the fruit is small and limited. Too much of the energy has been spent producing branches to help the tree stand out and get more sunlight. It is concerned with it's own life, and everything goes to self-preservation.
And now imagine that moment when you came to know Christ. The land the tree is on is bought by a farmer who knows who to care for plants, keep them healthy, and make them productive. He pulls out a saw and begins to cut away branches. He strips the tree down to what it needs in order to survive. He cuts away the limbs that do nothing but suck life. He adds compost to the soil, improving it and adding nutrients to it. The next year the blooms come again, and as the seasons change this time the fruit is large and abundant. The tree has produced something useful for others, and within each piece of fruit are new seeds that can be planted. The tree is not useful to others.
As I said, our lives are like that tree. The farmer is Jesus, the pruning is Him cutting away everything that doesn't look like Him from our lives, the things that don't lead others to new life. The compost is the things that make us stronger, Christian fellowship, Bible study, prayer, the things that help us learn who God is and connect with Him. All of these things not only make us more fruitful, but the fruit that we produce has limitless potential in each seed that is planted.
Pruning isn't an easy or pleasant task, sometimes the things Jesus is trying to get rid of are things we have held onto for years. Things we have used as defense mechanisms to protect ourselves, can be huge hindrances to our fruitfulness. When we focus on self-preservation, we halt ability to invite others to new life in Christ because we are not living in new life with Christ. We must be willing to let Jesus prune away the branches that we don't need, because they are sucking the life out of us. He is an experienced gardener, and knows what He is doing, we're in good hands.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
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