The house in which we currently dwell has several rose bushes planted by the previous owners. Since I have no green thumb, I spoke with them concerning the upkeep of these beautiful flowers. I could tell by their reply that these plants had been their pride and joy. Three years later, the plants are miraculously still alive, but they have lost their luster. I have heard that, in order for a rose bush to survive, one must trim away the smaller blooms on the lower branches because they drain nutrients away from the larger blooms. I always thought that this was a waste of a perfectly good flower, but now I see the effects of leaving the smaller blooms attached. The rose bushes in my front yard used to be full and vibrant and now they are thin and spindly.

Since we have started this series about the "vine life" I look at my rose bushes differently. They now serve as a constant reminder of what I need to prune in my life. My biggest weaknesses that prevent me from blooming for God are procrastination, laziness, and indecisiveness. I find myself in a rut in my everyday activities, and I do not accomplish much of anything. I know that part of this is human nature--we fear change and we like stability and familiarity. But I know that it is time to move on.

As I back out of my drive-way one more time, I glance at my poor little rose bushes. I will go out there soon and prune those life-sapping blooms. It may take me longer than it should, but I believe I will do it. And when I do grab those clippers, I know it will be time for me to do the same thing with my life so that I can remain in Him and His words can remain me.

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In John 15:1-9, God speaks of pruning the branches that bear fruit. Now, I'm not a gardener at all so I thought I'd look up the word prune for myself so I had a better idea of what God was talking about. The definition I found was: "Pruning is both a skill and an art. The skill is in making cuts that callus (form a thickened tissue that seals off wounds) properly and minimize the chance for decay. The art is in making cuts in the right places so that the plant takes on a handsome form and is prolific if grown for flowers or fruit." So what I got from this definition is that pruning is not as easy as just cutting off a branch, there is skill and knowledge involved. God uses His skill of pruning in our lives if we make the choice to bear fruit for Him.

When a plant is pruned, something unneeded is removed so that something beautiful can grow. This is a perfect symbol for some of the unneeded baggage that we let into our lives. It could be anything that keeps us from God, such as pride, lust, hate, or sin in general. Personally, I see myself as a vine that is in constant need of pruning. There are many reoccurring sins in my life that continually urge me to return to God and ask for forgiveness. These sins are not what I truly want, but what my body desires. The main sin of mine would probably be my atrophy for spending time with God. I have plenty of free time, but rarely do I spend the time that I should with God. Most days I sit and loose myself in my TV set.

We all have something in need of pruning, but we first need to realize what it is, and give it to God. I promise to use this devotional as a reminder that my time is Gods' and not my own. I hope you, as well, can use this as a reminder to give your unneeded baggage to God and allow him to prune your life.

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Pruning is a funny thing. Pruning boxwoods, for example, turns them into completely unnatural-looking plants. True to their name, when pruned properly they take on the appearance of leaf-covered boxes. Strange. Despite that, some plants require pruning to grow and bloom into the beautiful bushes and trees they were intended to be.. The funny thing about that, though, is that in order to become something gorgeous, many have to go through an awkward , chopped-off looking stage. The crepe myrtle, for example, looks like little more than a stump for 9 months of the year, but when it blooms, it's phenomenal!

The idea of having something pruned from our lives is consistent with this idea. Pruning a plant trims off the excess, and pruning our lives cuts out the things that we don't need. The things that most need to be pruned, though, are often the things we least want to let go of and that we most think we require to live. With those things cut off, our lives might look funny and awkward--but only because we are so accustomed to them being there...not because they really should be there.

When God prunes us, we're very much like those awkward-looking stumps we see around town. We look funny for awhile--and we feel funny for a long time--but when those are gone, we are free to really become the people God wants us to be.

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"He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more." -- John 15:2

God is very patient with me. He give me space and lets me grow. But quite often God reveals things in my life that need to be cut off and thrown away. It's hard to stop doing something you've been doing, and even enjoying. But sometimes God leads us to give up something to which we've grown accustomed. In all cases, it seems to be for our own good.

I used to spend a lot of time repairing old radios. I would spend countless hours in the workshop, enjoying the thrill of bringing an old piece of nostalgia back to life. But over time, it took much time away from other things and from family, so I eventually drifted away from this hobby. My wife had encouraged me with "at least it's not golf that takes you away from home and costs a lot of money." (sorry golfers) But my kids were growing up and my wife always needs more of my real attention, so this hobby vanished.

My recent hobby involves riding a road bike. I enjoy it immensely, and hope (even pray) that God won't ask me to give it up. I ride early in the morning before sunrise, so that I don't take time away from my family in the evenings. It's doing great things for my health, and it's a hobby I also enjoy with my son. But my wife has referred to my bike as my "mistress", so I better be careful. Again, she encourages me to ride, as she sees what it does for me both physically and personally.

I also have to watch what things I commit myself to. I have overcommitted myself to church activities in the past. Some might say "how could God possibly discourage that, since it's for the church." But if it's doing something that's not the best way God can use us, it still might be something we need to prune from our lives. God may need us at home working with our family relationships right now more than he needs us doing activities at church. We could try to argue with God (and sometimes I do), but He will give us perception regarding how we spend our time if we just let Him.

The verse above talks about cutting off stuff that is not producing fruit, but it also talks about pruning even the fruitful parts to allow these parts to bear even more fruit. God wants to make the productive parts of our lives even more so, if we will just let him work through us in those areas as well. What hobby or activity do you have that God wants you to let Him be involved with? Let Him trim on it a bit so that it be fruitful, so that He won't ever tell you it needs to be cut off. ;-)

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