PRUNING

John 15: 1-2, 5 "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. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

Galatians 5:22-23a But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

I'm in the process of being pruned in a certain area. I've needed the pruning for quite a while, but I've avoided it. Pruning just isn't fun. It hurts. However, I'd reached a point where I wasn't bearing much fruit. If my crazy, overgrown branch didn't get pruned soon, then my problems were going to be worse than the pain of pruning. So, I'm submitting to the pruning. It's hard, but I know it will be worthwhile in the long run.

I think pruning manifests itself in different ways, depending on the person and the area that needs work. For me, in this situation, it means removing some bad stuff and replacing it with some good stuff. Sounds simple enough, but when the bad stuff has become a way of life, then it's hard to change. And my box-checking, perfectionist tendencies make me want to come up with some little formula that will guarantee success. Otherwise I'll fail once and just want to throw in the towel. So, I'm taking baby steps. The last ten days or so I cut out a big, bad, gnarly thing. I intend on replacing it with a good thing this week. The thought of doing both at once was too overwhelming and I didn't want to set myself up for failure. I'm just too vulnerable right now and needed to tackle one thing at a time.

I'm working on doing what it says in John. I'm trying to remain in Christ, rather than only crying out to Him when I'm overwhelmed or discouraged. I'm trying to keep my focus on Him, rather than on me. I'm trying to lean on His promises, rather than my own motivations. I'm trying to obey His commands, rather than doing what I feel like doing. I'm trying to depend on His strength, rather than thinking I can change on my own.

Thankfully, God has some fantastic gardening assistants. The first one wasn't afraid to just ask some tough questions, call a spade a spade, and challenged me with some specific things to do. She focused on the bad stuff I need to get rid of. The second one committed to accountability, asking me how I'm doing. She focused on the good stuff I need to add in. The third one showed me where my attitude and perspective needed to change. She focused on my thought process. All three of them encouraged, challenged, and blessed me.

My prayer is that this pruning session doesn't last long. Of course, that's entirely up to me and how much I cooperate. I'll never be perfect, but I'd love for those verses in Galatians to be words that describe me more often than not. So far, so good, but I've still got some work to do.