Pruning

I’m told there are different times of the year to prune trees; energy-filled summer or dormant winter.  But why prune at all? 

Pruning cuts away the diseased and storm-damaged branches.  It thins the tree’s crown and branches, permitting more air to circulate and light to penetrate.  Air and light are essential to flower production.  Without flowers, there is no fruit.  Pruning removes obstructing branches that break off and make wounds in the trunk, exposing the life of the tree to insect invasion.  Pruning strengthens the tree for fruit production and shapes it into something of beauty. 

We need pruning, too, and not just once a year.  What does God use to prune us?  Scripture, life experiences, good and bad, the natural world.  We learn through hardship.  We learn through pain.  Seldom do we give thanks for the pruning, even though God tells us to give thanks for all things.  Everything becomes a tool in God’s hands. 

But I have part in the process, too. God calls me to examine my life, to search for what needs to be cut away.  Do I listen to the raucous shouting world or the still small voice of God?  I need my quiet time with Jesus.  Has pride crept in like a disease?  I deserve no crown. Cut away that self-righteousness.  What useless, time-consuming, needless things need to be cut away so I have the time I crave to lean in and listen to the Holy Spirit moving within my heart, instructing while I read God’s Word, lighting my path through this fallen, darkened world?  Whatever obstructs my relationship with God must be cut off and tossed on the burn pile.

Pruning brings new life.

I want to be strong in faith, like a tree firmly planted by streams of living water.  I want to yield fruit in season: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control because these are the things that make others hunger for the One who fills the soul.