Prune With Care

He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. John 15:2

There’s a reason why my yard will never be featured in House Beautiful. My bushes are scraggly. My lawn has brown splotches, and the few flowers I manage to sustain are always on the verge of dying.

It’s not that I don’t try. I trim and clip, but I don’t really know what I’m doing.

Knowledge in the hands of someone who doesn’t have the proper experience can lead to poor decisions and unwanted results.

Jesus implies a certain expertise in this passage. The gardener knew which branches to trim and which to cut off. He carefully followed each twig from beginning to end and made sure the cut was in precisely the right place.

You may be facing the need for some pruning. Get expert advice and take great care. Consider the consequences. Your goal is to strengthen the vine; make sure you don’t kill it off.