PRUNING.

It’s been a bit since I’ve posted a “lessons from the lawn” type post. I’ll have a heavy hitter coming in just a minute, but I want you to know that every post is written AFTER Holy Spirit speaks to me. Sometimes, it’s a gentle whisper; sometimes, it’s a warning; sometimes, it’s correction. Please know I write from a heart that is growing and processing and digging deeper in my faith. I often mess up. I regularly “fall short.” Yet I’m so, so grateful that I still hear His voice. I hope this will speak to you, too.

PRUNING.

Yesterday, I shared a post from Richard De La Mora regarding pruning. One of the IG slides said, “God is pruning things out of your life because He’s preparing you for greater.”

Put a pin there. We will be back.

It’s been a rainy summer in Alabama.
We are thankful we haven’t had to spend money on watering the grass and shrubs, but it also means the grass and the shrubs are growing exponentially fast and need attention more often. I’ve been busy and I’ve been tired. So, the shrubs have not been tended to. The first two pictures you see are real life photos from earlier this afternoon. (For those of you who know me, you know I like a well-manicured lawn and this is not my “norm.”) However, I just couldn’t find (or just couldn’t make) the time to prune the shrubs.

Until today.

I listened to a Darius Daniels sermon last week and he made a comment that stuck with me: “Many of us are growing in discipline, but we are not growing in discipleship. We’ve put structures and boundaries in our lives – disciplines, per se – because we are dealing with a consequence of something. But discipline is not discipleship.”

As I pulled out the trimmers to attack those shrubs today, it’s was as if I could hear the shrubs crying out, “Don’t trim too much! This is going to hurt! You might prevent further growth!” Interestingly, I was only trimming the surface. The deep parts of the shrubs – the root system, the underneath, the health and life of the plants – wasn’t telling me to stop. In fact, when the pruning was done, it was very apparent that other parts of the plants – previously overshadowed by the surface level growth – were evident and healthy and ready to produce again.

John 15:1-2 says, “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.”
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Now, back to that pin.

Have you given access to Jesus to do some pruning in your life? Maybe you’ve got shoots going off this way and that way and it LOOKS like growth. But will you acknowledge that it’s the root system – the underneath – the actual health of your relationship with Him – that will sustain you, grow you, and grow others in return?

Back to Richard’s quote.

The Lord does not prune us to hurt us. He does not prune us to hold us back. He prunes us so that we don’t get enamored by shallow fruit and find ourselves empty because our root system is depleted.

THAT is the greater.
It’s not more fame.
It’s not more money.
It’s not more titles.
It’s not more accolades.
It’s HIM.

He must become greater; I must become less.

Lord, we give you the pruning shears today. Cut away the shallow. Expose the root system. And take us to greater levels of intimacy with You.

In Jesus’ Name – Amen!