😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you. What do fingers, hand pruners, gas/electric shears and a saw all have in common???? They are all tools used by The Gardener for pruning. John 15:1-2, “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.”
There is no question. Every…EVERY branch will be pruned. So then, it comes down to which tool will He use and where? He will use His fingers to pinch a withering flower. The hand pruner to remove smaller dead branches. The shears to reshape your overall appearance. And the saw, that will be use in areas needing major transformation.
Brian and I did a lot of pruning when we owned a landscaping company. Each week we mowed a property, we would see the plants, watch them as they budded out and grew in the spring, and picked leaves out of them in the fall. But we never paid as much attention to them as we did when we pruned them. We looked at the overall condition of the plant, removed the struggling and dead sections to provide a healthier core, and reshaped it to give it a pleasing appearance.
In the midst of the pain of God pruning you, He is very close to you, holding you in His hands, and looking with great love, care, and intent to determine where your life will bear its greatest fruit, once He has prepared your branches.
I am absolutely feeling God’s closeness and Him breathing life into me in this pruning and reshaping season. Some things are feeling a bit abrasive, but I know the flowers and fruit are close at hand…His hand!
Bless others and be blessed.
Shelly :0)
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Third Day Devotions 