"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." John 15:1-2

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the process of pruning a plant.

For me, it brings back memories of watching my Dad get out his pruning shears and cutting off what seemed like an inordinate amount of branches from a beautiful rose bush that flourished in our backyard. He would prune the bush in late fall when the branches looked dead - I was always concerned that he was going to kill it! However, Spring would roll around and the size of the blooms would be even more magnificent than the year before.

As he was pruning those branches, he was helping the rose bush focus on producing more flowers instead of sustaining the unproductive branches.
It is the same with how our Heavenly Father prunes us. We all possess these unproductive branches in our own lives that He desires to remove.

Maybe there are branches riddled with sin that are beginning to choke out the healthy branches.

Maybe there are branches that are simply just holding us back from experiencing new and beautiful growth as we serve God's Kingdom.

Either way, pruning is not a pleasant experience and can require us to go through some pain as He removes the sinful and unnecessary parts of our lives. However, don't let that cause you to be resistant to the work that must be done!

My encouragement to you this week is to spend some time in prayer asking the Lord what unproductive branches are in your life that you have been sustaining. And then trust the Master Gardener to prune them so that you can be even more fruitful for His Kingdom.

- Autumn