Pruning for Growth

Activities, Activities, Activities...

The past several weeks activities have been going around in circles in my head with one resounding theme,

 "What should we be involved in this coming year?"

I love having my kids explore their different interest and talents and have always wanted to nurture that, but when does it become excessive. I sat down and looked at my projected weekly calendar for the fall, and immediately my brow furrowed and my discouragement began to grow. How can I manage to keep up with this pace, get our schooling done, and give my little ones what they need as well. Honestly, my first thought was to formulate a workable plan and plow on through, which on paper I achieved, but my heart knew about three weeks in we would start to feel the affects. Peace was alluding me.

I had questions flooding my brain at all hours of the day. Yes, I did lose some sleep over it. Every time I came back to just one ALL encompassing question that needed to be answered,

“What does God want us to focus on this year and be involved in?”

To answer this question, it meant I would need to let go of MY reasoning and use HIS. I would need to let go of MY plan and FOLLOW HIS. I would need to let go of MY fears and TRUST HIM. Simply I would need to LET GO and that is something I am not good at.

Through the process of much prayer and seeking, God showed me His Will through these few verses and spoke to my heart in a way that brought tears to my eyes.

“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 (NIV)

God the Father wanted us to “cut back” our schedule and let GROWTH occur.

In the ESV it says “my Father is the vine-dresser”. Of course we know that a gardener/vine-dresser prunes back that which is dead and no longer beneficial, but I could honestly still see benefit to our activities. What I didn't key in to till someone else pointed it out was that they also cut away living tissue to strengthen the vine and produce more fruit. OUCH! This means sometimes the pruning isn't just what is dead and no longer beneficial, but that which needs to be cut so that GROWTH can occur and it might be painful for a short time.

God has been showing me areas where He wants me to help my kids grow, where He wants me to grow, and where our family needs to grow. Now we need to prune back that which isn't allowing that growth to happen and “fertilize” what is left and watch it bloom. It's hard cutting back, but after all, the main goal is to stay connected to the vine and we must let the Gardner prune us now and then so we continue to grow in Him.

May the Lord GROW us this year