Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.  Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”  John 15:1-11

Today, I went up to my garden spot, now full of dead rubble where green, fruit-producing plants use to be, to do a clean up. As always, I came away with my spirit renewed. Thank You, Lord.

As I looked at a few swiveled up tomatoes barely hanging onto the vines, my heart was filled with gratitude to God. For once again, He had given us a fruitful harvest. He had been faithful to allow the sun to rise each morning and the the rain to fall in due time to water the earth. His mercy endures forever. Now, it is time for the little garden spot which I so enjoy to rest for the winter, to be refined and purified with frost and snow, and freezing temperatures.

As I began to pull up whole plants by the roots and cast them into a pile to be burned or thrown away, the Lord spoke an old truth anew to my seeking heart.  I noticed some came up easily, and some were quite stubborn. In my mind’s eye, I could see my Father walking around in the “garden” of my heart, removing things within that do not bear good fruit.  I didn’t have quite as much mercy as He does with me with these dead plants. I was ripping them out of the ground with all my might. How thankful I am that He does not deal with me so violently! How gentle and gracious He is to not rip certain “roots” out of us all at once, but slowly, over time lest it be more than we could bear. Some, however, are not as deeply ingrained, and with little pain, He gently removes them quickly.  The Lord longs for us to bear good fruit, that we may prove to be His disciples. We cannot bear fruit apart from Him. There are all sorts of things within us that we hold on to, but really do not need. Things that aren’t bearing fruit, that are only getting in the way of our walk with the Lord. Won’t you come before His Throne today and ask Him to remove all the “roots” in you that bear no God-glorifying fruit? What are some of these things? Fear is a big one. Jesus tells us so many times throughout the Word to “Fear Not”, and we find ourselves worrying so often. I do. I am guilty. Lord, forgive me and teach me to trust You better. What about apathy? Complacency? Jealousy? Anger? Self-righteousness? The list goes on and on. The good news is that we have a “Vine Dresser” who finds delight in pruning us to make us more like His Son. Isn’t that exciting?! It’s not always exciting or pleasurable during the process, but afterwards there is  joy overflowing! If we abide in Him, we can be sure He will continue the process of pruning and perfection and that through Him, we will continue to produce good fruit. And don’t ever forget this; we are already clean because of the Word He has spoken! Wow. Let that sink deep into your soul! As a husband is admonished to wash and sanctify his wife with the Word, Christ does the same for us-His Bride! (Ephesians 5:25-27).

As I moved from extracting dead tomato and pepper plants to the corn, I found some sweet surprises from my Savior. I found myself standing before the dead corn stalks and as I pulled them, I saw the rocks. I couldn’t help but giggle as I remembered the day that I carried each one of those ridiculous, heavy rocks to place behind the corn stalks. It was a hot day in July. The night before, we had, had a terrible storm. I woke up to find all the beautifully growing corn stalks lying lifelessly flat on the ground! None of them had broken, but they were terribly bent and no longer able to stand up on their own. (How is that for a picture of our lives so often? Bent but not broken by God’s loving, pruning hand…). Anyway, I tried standing them up. I tried tying them together. I tried pushing them forward. I tried putting anything I could find behind the stalks. I even stretched myself out as far as possible, using arms, legs, and every usable part of my body to hold them up, but nothing worked.  Just then, it started to rain again! I was so frustrated I was near tears. I was alone in a “corn field” of feeble corn stalks full of immature corn cobs that refused to stand up. I was completley helpless after all my efforts to save any of them! I was a wet mess, crying out to God and letting Him know I needed real, physical help but had no real, physical man to help me. Just then, I heard Him whisper the word “rocks” to my heart. I looked over, and sure enough, just a few feet behind me, there was a pile of big, heavy rocks beside a tree. Why didn’t I see them before? With gladness, I ran to them and began carrying them, one at a time (they were so heavy!) and placing them behind my fragile, weathered little corn stalks. It worked! What a day! 

As I now removed the remains of the corn I had worked so hard to save only months ago, the rocks stood out all the more. The corn had grown well and produced and hidden them, but now they were visible again. I laughed again as I thought about how I would get all those rocks out of the garden before plowing time! ;)  Each one was an altar of sorts that had a beautiful truth to tell. One said, “He is Jehovah Jireh-your Provider!”. Another beamed, “He is Jehovah-Ishi-God, your Husband”. Another one shouted, “He is Faithful!”, while the huge one that felt like it weighed a ton sang, “He will have mercy upon His afflicted!” Together, they proclaimed, “Do not grow weary in well doing, for in due season, you will reap a harvest, if you faint not.” I found myself thanking the Lord for that day, and the lessons He taught me with every rock I laid in the soil.

Dear precious sisters,

Our walk in the Lord Jesus is not a dull, easy one. It is an exciting, adventurous, and mostly up-hill one.  But we have been promised by the True Vine that if we abide in Him, He will work in us to perfect us and purify us and make us more like Himself. That we are already cleansed because of His precious Word. That He will do what we ask of Him. And… that our joy will be FULL in Him.