Pruning Wars

When it comes to trimming the shrubs and trees around our home, Phil and I have vastly different ideas on when to say when. Phil takes pruning to the extreme. I can almost hear the foliage begin to whimper whenever the man picks up yard clippers. I would tell you that Phil is a more is more type of pruner. Phil thinks I am anti-pruning, period. He would say that if it were possible, I’d let the landscape around us grow up and over the house. The truth lies somewhere in between. It’s not the War of the Roses or anything, but we’ve learned a lot about handling these seasonal skirmishes.

The stage was set last week. It was time to prune the chrysanthemums on either side of the front walk. We knew our roles. Phil trimmed while I picked up the discarded limbs and observed, thus allowing us to negotiate during the process instead of sparring afterwards. It works well, for the most part.

As I picked up the fallen limbs, my thoughts turned to spiritual pruning. I don’t always like that either, but it’s infinitely more necessary than trimming our shrubs. Jesus tells us in the fifteenth chapter of John that He is the vine and we are the branches and that His Father prunes every branch that bears fruit so it might bring forth more fruit!

More fruit! Isn’t that what we want? It gets better. Jesus goes on to say that we’re cleaned through His Word. Did you know that word “cleaned” has the same Greek meaning as the word pruned? In other words, if we’ll learn from God’s Word and yield to Him, Father will use His Scriptures to prune us. It is in resisting Him that we find ourselves learning tough lessons the hard way.

In closing, here’s a thought that made me smile. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in total agreement over our development, yours and mine, and what needs to be trimmed and when. No cutting now and regretting it later.  Now that deserves an “amen”!