Clipping and Snipping

"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 15:2

Last fall we had two devastating hurricanes just three weeks apart. At our home, the first storm ripped off the nails and wire cords that held the thick bouganvilla vine into the concrete. When we were able to return home, we found the entire enormous plant down on the concrete.

My husband got a chain saw to begin the cleanup work. We had huge piles of tree limbs, spindly branches and gnarly trunks; more than twenty-five years' worth. What remained were little stumps. Literally, they looked like dead sticks that were just stuck in the ground.

We went out of town after that, and when we came back, did we have a surprise! Just two weeks to the day that my husband had cut it all down, it was loaded with new growth; beautiful thick green leaves, and long sturdy branches.

I finally understood the the story about "pruning" found in the bible. (John 15). I never had really understood it until I witnessed it firsthand with our vine.

It seems Jesus spoke so often in agricultural terms. The people must have understood stories that related to trees, plants, seeds, and growing conditions. These probably made perfect sense to them.

You know what they say, you have to experience something to understand it. I guess that is the gift that God gave me through the loss of this bouganvilla vine. I am grateful for that, and for the implications of the story that are now brought to light for me.

I fully expect the vine to bud any day now. I also expect a bumper crop of magnificent fuschia colored flowers. In the future, when I experience clipping, snipping, and chopping - aka pruning - at the hand of the Master gardener, I will remember this principle: cutting back produces more. It works. Thank you, Lord!

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Contributed by Sally I. Kennedy boca7565@bellsouth.net. Sally is the author of "52 Little Parables from Ireland" Creation House Press.