Pruning for growth

The theme of this year's leadership development course was, "Remain in Me" - taken from John's Gospel chapter 15, where it speaks of how God is like a gardener who prunes fruitful branches in order to make room for even more growth.  Even so, the rather brutal pruning (by the town council) of the pretty yellow mimosa trees in a park near by house made for an ugly and sobering picture of what pruning can look like: it's always going to be painful! Our own experience of closing the leadership retreat centre in order to make way for the international multiplication of the leadership development course is a very real example of what pruning feels like.

It's been five weeks since the local authorities cut back those mimosa trees, leaving only ugly bare branches (I confess that I gathered up some of the logs to add to my firewood stock for next winter) and so this week I was amazed to see that new growth had already begun. By next spring, or maybe even before then, those trees will be covering the park in a carpet of yellow blossoms again.

In stark contrast, the jasmine plant at the entrance to my house hasn't produced many blossoms this year. I think I waited too late to prune it, and instead of cutting it right back in January, I did a less brutal pruning in March.  The growth has not been nearly as lovely as in previous years. What a visual parable! If we resist God's pruning in our lives, or don't respond in a timely way, we may miss out on some of the fruitfulness and the fragrance that He wants to bring from our life.