Pruning

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Pruning

by Katherine Kehler

“While every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:2b).

Every spring I can hardly drive by a garden market without stopping and buying one more plant or bush that I absolutely must have. I can always find a place to plant it. After living on the same property for 12 years, my flower garden has flowers blooming every season of the year.

The Process of Growth
However, planting flowers and bushes is but one step in the process of caring for plants. They need to be fertilized, they need to be checked for aphids and slugs every week, they need to be watered in the hot season and they need to be pruned. Some plants need to be pruned in spring, some you prune in the fall. You have to know your plants. (My husband likes to prune them all in spring, and many times has cut away buds of the spring flowering bushes.)

Last year I bought a lovely flowering patio tree. It had small purple flowers and bloomed all spring, summer and fall. In November, we carried it to the barn, put it in an empty stall and watered it once or twice a month. It was dormant – it didn’t show any signs of life all winter. In April, when we brought it back to the patio, I wondered if it would come alive again.

I spend a lot of time in my laundry room, so I placed the "dead" tree in front of the window – thinking that the warmth of the dryer outlet and my loving care might help it revive. I then took the pruning shears, shaped it and hoped for the best.

After a few weeks, I noticed a few green leaves coming out of what seemed to be dead branches. I was thrilled. A month later, most of the branches were covered with leaves, but there were also many dead branches, so I cut them away – careful not to cut out the live ones. Now it is full of lovely purple flowers gladdening the hearts of many people. If I hadn’t cut out the dead branches, the tree would not look so beautiful.

Jesus Wants us to be Fruitful
Jesus notices the dead, unfruitful branches in us and has to cut them away so we can become more fruitful. Those dead branches could be relationships that have become our first love. Perhaps a dead branch is our love for material things, maybe our attitudes, pride in our work, ministry or our looks. Only God knows us well enough to know which branches to cut out. But pruning hurts. And even though we will bear more fruit later, the dormant time feels like God is silent. But He isn’t. He watches over us all the time.

Someone told me, “If you want to shine for Jesus, you have to be polished.”

Father, thank You for knowing us so completely that You know exactly which branches to cut out, so we become more fruitful. You know which are the dead branches. We don’t. Thank You for polishing us so we can shine for You - from the inside. Amen.

~ Katherine has been a staff member with Power to Change Canada for 30 years. She has launched and developed many successful ministries, including Canadian Prayer Alert, Women In Leadership, Women Today, Women Today Magazine and Women Today Online. Katherine has written and published a book, When Dreams Come True: Women Today Online. She serves as the director for www.secretsofsuccess.com.

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