Pruning!

Summer is winding down. The air is cooler, kids are back in school. Fall is knocking on the door. Late fall is the best time to prune plants and trees — when the summer growth cycle is over. Your goal is to keep limbs and branches at least 3 feet from your house so moisture won’t drip onto roofing and siding, and to prevent damage to your house exterior during high winds.

Speaking of pruning - are you willing to submit to Divine Pruning? Or do you run and hide? Jesus himself is the one who says that we need pruning:

"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. You are already clean because of the work I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." John 15: 1-4.

When was the last time you felt "pruned"? Pruning is painful but profitable. James tells us that trials are occasions for joy because they will test our faith and develop in us perseverance and maturity. (James 1: 2-4) We need God's help even to desire to yield ourselves to his pruning. May God bring people and events into our lives that will sanctify us so that we might bear true spiritual fruit for his glory and his kingdom's sake.