Anyone who knows me or follows me on social media understands that my rose bushes are more than just flowers to care for. They will appear in my photos, feeds and even here in this blog from time to time as a talking point or a source of inspiration. I look forward to their first blooms in the Spring and I will continuously cut blooms for indoor display. It is not a large bed of roses but each one has been carefully selected for its color and it’s growing patterns. Invariably, there comes a time each year, usually in the heat of summer, when the growth has become sort of random and straggly so I have to pull out the dreaded pruning shears and trim them way back. As I clip each branch, I am looking for the optimal place that not only takes away the tangle of stray branches but will also encourage growth in the right directions. I tell myself (and the roses) that it’s really for their good. Honestly, when I am finished, I wonder if I have overdone it. I have to wait a couple of weeks to see the branches to begin to bud and rebound. Until then, they look nearly dead.

John 15 and the “I am the vine” passage is one of my favorites. It reminds me of my true position with God. When I read it, I think about my rose bushes (and when I prune, I think about the text). It is such an inspiring text for us as Christians as it reminds us that God treats us like his precious garden, watching over our spiritual growth in such a way that we can flourish and grow. I have heard sermons and Bible teachings on this text that are meant to inspire us to stay connected to God, and those points are valid. However, I think we often overlook the really hard part of the text which is verse two.

God as the master gardener examines his plants (us) carefully. When He sees that some area in our life is not producing fruit (not bearing the fruit of the Spirit or causing the Gospel to spread) he takes that area of our life away from us. Not only that, He casts it away to be burned (v. 6). I am actually okay with that thought. I really don’t want anything to get between my connection with God and me. But it’s the other part of verse two that is perhaps most challenging. When God sees an area in our life or sees us producing fruit (really flourishing in our spiritual growth), he prunes so that we can be even more productive. It almost seems counter-intuitive. Just when we think all is going well, God will pull out those pruning shears and start looking for the places in us that need to be trimmed back. Sometimes its a minor pruning but many times it will feel like a major pruning job. Like those rose bushes, we may feel pretty naked and dead when God finishes His pruning job, but if we give it time, we will find that we will be even more full and flourishing than before.

The key to this remains in the balance of the paragraph, verses three through eight. At the point of our pruning, it is so important that we stay connected to God through prayer, studying His word, worship and fellowship instead of retreating into a personal pity party. Pruning comes in many forms; sickness, financial instability, grief, adverse conditions are just a few. If we honestly examine those points in our life where these things invaded our lives before, we will often recognize that it was there that we looked to Jesus more frequently, where we relied on prayer and God’s words to see us through and in retrospect we see we grew the most spiritually in those moments. As we came out of those times, we were full of praises and testimonies and we were able to tell others about our experiences and how God brought us through. But over time, as we move farther into places of prosperity, good times and wellness, sometimes our testimony is not as viable. We love God, we are working and doing a lot for Him. God sees this and recognizes that He can make us even better. Lo and behold, it becomes another pruning season.

If we can learn to be prayerful, thankful and praise God in our pruning season, I believe we will see our new growth a whole lot quicker. It is the added fertilizer we need to produce even more than we did before. After all, the whole of our existence is to give God the praise and glory and nothing seems to exemplify that more for me than a beautiful rose garden that is full of fragrant and colorful blooms.