Today, I got out there to do some maintenance for the week and was handed some shears to prune flowers. So I just walked around the flower beds cutting down plants so that they can grow again. I’m not the most horticultural person, so I really don’t always get the importance of pruning…does it really make a difference?

As I was walking around campus and finding plants to prune, I couldn’t help but think about John 15.

The Lord prunes us and we often don’t get why– “God, I’ve been learning this lesson… I got it. Pretty sure we’re good, don’t know why we have to go over this again.”

But He is the Gardener – He knows His garden and knows what it needs. The garden grows, and even lives, only by way of the gardener.

In the moment of refining we don’t often see God’s purpose. But once we’ve come through the fire, we can attest to the gold.

Time and time again in our lives we get through a struggle or time of growth and look back to see that God was faithful every step of the way, and each time we doubted Him He came through. Yet, the next situation arises and we’re back to our lack of trust. Why?? We just learned to trust Him last time, this shouldn’t be anything different. But somehow it is, because it’s a new situation and a different struggle. Our situations will change but our God never will. But we don’t really trust that unless we’re actively abiding. What’s it mean to abide?

“Remain in me, as I also 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. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” ~John 15:4-5

From one analogy to the other.. As Christ is the Vine, we are the branches. We are in Him. He is our life itself – if branches are stripped from the vine, they will die. The branches grow and flourish when they remain attached to the vine, drinking in the water it brings from its roots. The fruit comes when the branches are adequately watered and cared for – when the branch is attached to the vine and being poured into and properly nourished, the result is fruit. If we want to live in a way that points people to the Lord, we must keep His commands. (John 14:15 – “If you love me, you will keep my commands.”) That is the fruit of our life – obedience. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control — those are all fruits of the Spirit.

But we don’t emulate those characteristics in our life, authentically, by trying to. We live out those characteristics of a Christ-follower by ABIDING in the VINE. Immersing ourselves in the Living Water, that is the very Word of God. Spending time with our Creator. Not making Him a part of our lives but making Him our lives. Because apart from Him we can do nothing.

When we begin to have this perspective, the pruning seasons can become the praising seasons, too. I’m sure glad my God doesn’t leave me to go my own way and get outta control when there’s more heart work He wants to get done in my life. If that were the case I’d be temporarily happy and never satisfied. But the Lord offers me real contentment. That’s what we’re after and He knows it. He’s the One who made us. He cares enough to make life a little more frustrating sometimes so that we’ll know Him more and be more like Him. (Hebrews 12:6 – “For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines.”) I wish I would always have that perspective of the bigger picture but I often get stuck in my own selfish worldly perspective. I allow myself to get so easily consumed with how I feel rather than operate off of what God’s Word says.

My dad always tells me that we can’t bring God’s Word to our feelings; we have to bring our feelings to God’s Word. Line them up and figure out what’s true and what’s a lie based on what the Bible says. That’s convicting because nowhere in the Bible does it tell me to worry about myself and how everything is going for me. It tells me to love the Lord my God with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my mind, and with all my strength; and to love my neighbor as myself (Mark 12:30-31). But when we do this, we find delight. Delight in the Lord. We grow in character. We walk by the Spirit and do not gratify the desires of the flesh (Gal. 5:16).

That can sometimes sound constraining, but it is actually the most freeing. To walk by the Spirit, we experience fellowship with the One who created us and knows the depths of our soul. People let us down. Situations disappoint from time to time. Even the best things in life aren’t the best thing. The best thing is Jesus and He wants relationship with you and me. He wants our hearts to be all in, abiding daily, so that we can experience His full blessing. One foot in the world and one foot out exhausts us and leaves us empty, but true rest is found in His presence.

“And since we have a great High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;” -Hebrews 10:21-23
The eternal perspective is key to our daily pursuit of Jesus. As Christians, we are the bride of Christ. The bride loves the groom because the groom first loved, first pursued, the bride. Christ has pursued us and loved us forever. Literally. That’s hard to wrap my mind around, which is great because why would I want to fully understand everything about my God? It’s kind of great to know I’ll never be able to fully grasp everything about the Lord while on this earth, because I can spend my whole life abiding in Him yet constantly getting to experience more and more facets of His character and His Kingdom with each new day, hopefully looking more like Him, too.