We now cannot even walk on the side walk because the "stick" has climbed and grown so much it has covered the corner of our house. We have to walk around it on the grass to get to the front door.
Walking in from church Sunday, Ashley said, "Mom, the stick is attacking me...time to cut the stick!"
I'll prune it back after it quits blooming, which, by the way it is still doing. You just can't see it as well because the leaves are so huge and numerous it's covering up the blooms.
I love the season of pruning. I love pruning back my roses for the winter...cutting them way back until they almost look unable to achieve a flower in the future. I will love cutting back this vine because I know it will make it grow even more beautiful next year.
John 15:1-4
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch 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 for greater fruitfulness 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 apart from me."
As much as I love pruning in my yard, I never like the idea of being pruned myself. It's usually uncomfortable, rarely pleasant, often painful. But it's necessary. I know we are a work in progress. Constantly growing, producing fruit, being pruned, and so on and so on.
I want to be fruitful. I want my life to leave evidence of Jesus Christ along the way. The only way to be productive is to accept my pruning.
Ouch...but thank you.
Walking in from church Sunday, Ashley said, "Mom, the stick is attacking me...time to cut the stick!"
I'll prune it back after it quits blooming, which, by the way it is still doing. You just can't see it as well because the leaves are so huge and numerous it's covering up the blooms.
I love the season of pruning. I love pruning back my roses for the winter...cutting them way back until they almost look unable to achieve a flower in the future. I will love cutting back this vine because I know it will make it grow even more beautiful next year.
John 15:1-4
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch 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 for greater fruitfulness 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 apart from me."
As much as I love pruning in my yard, I never like the idea of being pruned myself. It's usually uncomfortable, rarely pleasant, often painful. But it's necessary. I know we are a work in progress. Constantly growing, producing fruit, being pruned, and so on and so on.
I want to be fruitful. I want my life to leave evidence of Jesus Christ along the way. The only way to be productive is to accept my pruning.
Ouch...but thank you.
5 comments:
Pruning (as in the kind God does to us) is quite uncomfortable, but I know He does it out of love. And, I have never seen the end result and felt that it was not worth the pain.
Just the other day a sister said we were being pruned. Not really something I'm enjoying.
Your post is a reminder that perhaps we need to quote a line (“Thank you sir, may I have another.”) from the movie “Animal House” when undergoing “Heavenly pruning.”
In Mike Cope's blog the other day, someone referred to times of pruning for individual churches. It was mentioned in the context of times when people leave churches due to one issue or another.
Pruning is no fun. It's just necessary.
Steve - That comment from Cope's blog is so true.
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