No More Suckers!

"I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me will bear much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." John 15:5, 7

Spring is in the air! It's coming and I'm finding it hard to wait! While I love the change in seasons, sometimes the cold dreariness winter brings finds me longing to be outside in the warm sunshine. I'm ready to plant beautiful flowers, go on warm walks through the neighborhood, enjoy the new life of God's creation. I love watching the flowers bloom and everything becoming lush and green. Sometimes I feel like Spring is just a glimpse of heaven. It represents new life and only a small portion of what we have ahead!

I have a fairly small yard, pretty easy to maintain. So, seasonal changes aren't really daunting for me in terms of yard work. I find it enjoyable and relaxing. However, it hasn't always been that easy. In fact, the house where I used to live sat in the middle of 6.5 acres. Four acres of that was field which had to be mowed on a regular basis (nothing compared to the work of some of the hard working farmers around us (God bless those families!) but a decent amount of work just the same). Some of that work had to be done prior to warm weather so that things could flourish and grow as they should when warm weather hit.

Among those chores of preparation, was that of pruning back the pecan trees which grew voluntarily on the property. Some of those trees were quite big, but weren't producing any pecans in the winter. I had found myself dismayed when I couldn't make my pecan pies at Christmas one year due to no yield from my beautiful trees. So, I called up my father (the amazing "green thumb" of the family) and asked him if there was anything I could do. He told me that some years there's just no yield but sometimes saplings come up and suck a lot of the life from the trees, thus, hindering the crop. He told me the best thing I could do was to prune away the saplings so the trees could be healthier in producing a good crop.

So, in the fall of that year, I went around the property examining all pecan trees. Not surprisingly, I found a lot of the saplings to which he was referring. So, I got out my trusty saw and got rid of those suckers! It almost felt a little weird as some of those saplings looked like neat little trees ready to spring up. I feared cutting them down, but I had to trust the process. So, I continued in the pruning process..

The following Spring, I began to see lots of beautiful green foliage and pecan buds beginning to form as the weather grew warmer. Our family enjoyed taking a stroll around the yard, on those beautiful, warm evenings watching the development of the pecan harvest. The excitement grew as the warm months yielded their way to the cooler weather of the fall. The green pecans began to turn brown as the leaves fell. Then one cold day, we walked out to the trees to survey the progress. To our surprise, we found some pecans had fallen. We picked them up and put them in our buckets. We sat on the steps of the front porch with a nutcracker in hand. We cracked open one to find a beautiful pecan on the inside! I could make my pies!

As scary as it had been to cut away those saplings, it had been necessary to the final outcome. God desires the same of us. He longs for us to cut away the sin in our lives. We are His branches, the hands and feet of Jesus. He wants us to remain healthy so He can do a good work in us. We have to prune away that which hinders His plan for our lives. He longs for us to love Him enough that we come to Him in all humility and take inventory of those areas. We can choose to do it ourselves through Him or He will prune us if we remain disobedient. Which, allow me to tell you from experience, is not a fun process! It's much better to get rid of our stubborn streak and ask Him to reveal those areas which need pruning.

The wonderful outcome is there will be a harvest at the end! We will reap it! And our obedience to Him guarantees He will hear our prayers. What we ask in His name won't fall on deaf ears! He's available anytime we want to talk to Him and He promises to hear us and answer our prayers according to His will. It just requires that step of obedience.


Father, how many times have I allowed myself to remain in disobedience, thus building a wall between me and You? Lord, I don't want to live that way. You've promised me an ABUNDANT life! I want to live it! Please reveal to me the areas of my life which need pruning. I want to be healthy so I can flourish in you. I am a new life, a new creation. I don't want to live as the old, dead branch I used to be. Give me the discernment to know where I have hindrances so that I may, through Your power, rid them from my life. Thank you for the new life. It makes me want to sing songs of praise to You. You are worthy of it all. I love You and praise your holy name. Amen.