I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 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 15:1-2
We’ve lived in our current home for over ten years now, and it came with a large holly bush at either end of our screened porch. I prune them by hand every year, several times, in fact. And only once, in all those years, have I let Ken get near them with the hedge trimmers. I like bushes free-formed by nature with a limited amount of control. He likes them neatly shaped and cropped closely. On one occasion, I gave in and turned him loose on one of them. It looked so naked for so long, I just couldn’t do it again. But I was very wrong. The bushes needed their excess trimmed away.
Weekend before last, on Saturday, I went out with my trusty hand pruners and began to cut away at the excess growth. I found that new growth only extended about eight to ten inches into the bush. Beyond that depth were only spindly little branches that were three to four feet long…and there were bunches of them. I trimmed everything from the bottom and worked my way up, but it was beginning to cloud over, and the wind was blowing very hard, so I asked Ken to help me bag the trimmings. I thought we could decide what to do about the out-of-control bush later. We bagged my clippings, and then he started trimming. When he was nearly finished, rain was imminent, and we still had a few scraggly limbs at the top. I headed around the pile of trimmings and caught my toe on the concrete pad beside our deck landing. I came down hard, flat on my face, but after a quick assessment, the only damage to my body was a black and blue toe and a few abrasions on my nose, along with a bruise or two. Of course, my new glasses were toast, but there were no breaks or any cuts or bruises anywhere else. I can only assume that Jesus took the fall for me, as He has so many times before, both literally and figuratively. (And I’m healing well.)
You may wonder what my point is….simply this: Most plants need to be pruned from time to time, sometimes lightly and sometimes severely, in order to maintain overall health. Jesus used the reference to grapevines in John 15 to help us visualize our need to also be pruned. We carry lots of baggage throughout our daily lives….financial burdens, health issues, long-held grudges, addictions (those come in many forms), unresolved anger, and bad habits. Some of our baggage is good, but too much of a good thing can be very tiring and leave little time for things that matter more.
I learned during these past two weekends that our bushes needed exactly what Ken wanted to do all along, but I had chosen to hold on to all that unnecessary growth because I wanted a certain look. It wasn’t good for the bushes, and it isn’t good for me to hold on to the excesses in my life either. All of which brings me to our amazing youth praise band and their choice for the communion song they shared on Sunday morning, one of my very favorites, Tend. Jesus left us with the analogy of tending grapevines in order to teach us that we need to let His Father prune our unneeded branches.
So be the gardener of my heart. Tend the soil of my soul.
Break up the fallow ground, cut back the overgrown.
And I won’t shy away, I will let the branches fall.
So what You want can stay and what You love can grow.**
And one more connection to Sunday morning’s service… Pentecost brought the Holy Spirit to guide the disciples in His absence. As we celebrate the day of Pentecost, we too are offered the Holy Spirit as a constant guide and companion for our lives. Will you cling to Jesus and let Him be the true vine in your life? Will you let God be the gardener, accepting all the necessary pruning? And will you invite the Holy Spirit to be your constant guide and companion? (…for a triple braid of cord is not easily broken. Ecclesiastes 4:12b)
(**Chorus of Tend by Bethel Music and Emmy Rose—2022)
