Happy Dance

John 15: 1. I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.


During the Autumn and Winter of our lives, God prunes us in order to cut away from us everything that would hinder our growth or which does not have any value for our lives.

God does this pruning because over time, we begin to show dead unfruitful branches in our lives.

Many times in my own life, I have held onto something that was not pleasing to my God, in fact it did me much harm and would have continued to do so, eventually those dead branches would have affected the rest of the body had God not pruned them away.

We do not see these things as God sees them, He see the full picture of our lives. God, in his love, identifies our weaknesses and those harmful areas in our lives that must be pruned out.

He sees the damage to our lives if they were allowed to take root and to continue growing in our lives. He knows much better than we do what is harmful to us. And it is these very things that God desires to "prune" or cut out of our lives altogether.

Being the Spring time of the year, and living in a town of mostly orchards, I thought on what it means to prune a tree properly.
Proper pruning requires a few things:
The right timing,

prune too early, and damage can occur to the tree and whatever growth and fruit the tree might produce next season.

Getting overzealous with the shears will cause just as much of a problem as not clearing out enough of that old growth.

The most beneficial growth will come when pruning is involved.
God know just the right time, and just the right amount, and just the right places to prune, so we bear much fruit for Him.

Thank You Lord that You are the pruner.

In His Love

Les