I grew up singing, "He is the vine, and I am the branches. His banner over me is love." These the lyrics to this kid's song is referring to John 15 a few verses after the verses written above.
Later in life and growing in spiritual maturity, studying verse 8 of John 15 revealed the importance of of 'bearing fruit.' "By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples." These words also brought my favorite church camp song full circle! "Fruit of the Spirit's not a coconut. But love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-controllllllllllllll!"
Though I've grown up hearing these words from John 15 my entire life, I still didn't fully grasp verses 1 and 2. It took me inheriting a garden. Let me explain.
When we moved in January, I was pleased that the backyard was fenced for privacy and small-ish for minimal yard work! The front of the house appeared to be equally low maintenance.
Around April, I realized that instead of a low maintenance patch of grass, we had inherited a garden in front of our house. If you are friends with me on facebook, you may remember my inquiries to "fellow gardeners" asking about what plants we had growing on our property. After many opinions, I can confidently (or not so confidently) say that we have euonymus, asiatic lillies, ornamental grass, and liriope AKA monkey grass. Additionally we had what you could call 2 bushes, which were supposedly crape myrtles. At first it was fun work pulling the weeds and making our house look nice.
That didn't last long.
After, months of having a "garden," I've realized I am definitely not "a gardener," at least not with a garden that I did not initiate. It wasn't long before I determined that: 1) weeds are from the devil, and 2) I'm pretty sure we don't have crape myrtle bushes.
All summer I have been trimming those darn crape myrtles waiting for them to start looking like the google images I've looked up. I can say, as of now, we have not reached that point...... I wish it were true, but it's not.
Luckily the previous renters were also lazy enough to leave some trimmers which have come in handy for me as I prune the "crape myrtles" every 17 minutes. Yes, it seems like I'm pruning these things all the time!
What baffles me the most is the fact that every time I trim them down, I think, "Wow, this looks great! So perfect looking. And tidy. And not blocking our front door." And then (what seems like) 2 days later, its bigger than ever!
Recently, it was a hot and humid day in August and I was giving the "crape" a haircut. I was frustrated and sweaty because this dang bush keeps taking over the front of our house. I still had my ear plugs in from using the weedeater (safety first, people!), so I was just working, alone in my thoughts.
And then it clicked.
The reason the bushes keep getting bigger and bigger is because this was God's design. A more significant epiphany for me, was finally understanding John 15:1-2. "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does not bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit."
I literally never fully understood the pruning analogy, because I've never pruned before now. Jesus says that God prunes the branch that does not give fruit, so that it may produce MORE fruit. I always got that He removes areas that are not of Him, it just didn't fully process that He removes it so that even MORE fruit of Him can grow!
I'm amazed that God can reveal himself in such random things, like taking care of someone else's "crape myrtle."
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