I am no gardener. I’m not one of those people who love tinkering in the garden. I don’t find it relaxing. It does not calm my soul, in fact it often does the opposite. I enjoy looking at a nice garden but any work I undertake there is out of necessity.

Ok, qualifications over

One of the things gardeners talk about is pruning. I often heard about it from listening to my parents who do seem to enjoy gardening. it didn’t look a lot of fun to be honest. All I really understood about it was that you chopped bits off the plant/tree etc. so that it didn’t look messy.

I can imagine the gardening eye rolls from here!

Therefore, when I first heard about the process of pruning biblically I presumed the same approach. If I was a mess and not doing well God would chop parts off me (spiritually and emotionally of course) in the hope that they might grow back a bit better than they were before. However when reading John 15 in the Bible I noticed an important piece of information about the pruning process. Here’s what Jesus had to say about it.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful John 15:1-2

I know most know this already but whilst there is a ‘cutting off’ for those who produce no fruit, it is actually the fruitful that get pruned, not the unfruitful. The reason they get pruned is not because they are messy or bad, it isn’t to keep them humble or teach them a lesson – the goal is to make them even more fruitful.

This led me to review my limited gardening knowledge and so l searched for a definition of pruning.

trim (a tree, shrub, or bush) by cutting away dead or overgrown branches or stems, especially to encourage growth.

Oxford Languages

What d’ya know? Its the same!

This so helps me in my adventure with God. But what might pruning look like in our spiritual life? Maybe its seeing less progress than we’re used to? Maybe the removal of invitations or opportunities to lead? I find it hard to talk specifically because every situation is very different but as I look back on my life I can definitely see moments of pruning and I am very glad (now) that God did what he did. The last thing we want is more fruit than our characters can handle.

The truth is we should actually desire pruning because it is a sign of fruitfulness in our lives and a promise of increased fruitfulness. The passage in John 15 does go on to talk about how we can continue to be fruitful – I’ll let John finish the post.

You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 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. John 15:3-4