Cutting Back

JOHN 15:1 - 4

1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

The black raspberry crop this year is overwhelming. Each day I go out to the patch at the edge our backyard and pick at least a quart of the plump purple-black globes. I've noticed, though, there are many clusters of undeveloped, dried-up berries. These clusters come from britle, whithered branches, while branches on the same vine remain lush and suptle. It's time to cut the unproductive branches off before they rob the productive branches of life-giving energy.

Pruning is necessary to the fruitful life. Pruning involves cutting back and cutting off. Both are done in order to bring about more fruitfulness. But the cutting off is a task of finality. The branch is no longer or has quit giving fruit. It is cut so that the vine can nourish and support the branches that are producing fruit. Cutting off is an act of finality. Branches are removed--detached from the life-giving vine--and then thrown into the fire...burned to char and ash.

Cutting back, however, is an act of continuation, of perpetuation. The branch that has produced fruit is cut back so that it can support more blossoms, more fruit, perhaps even shoot another branch.

It is important to note that branches that produce fruit are cut back. Branches that don't produce fruit are cut off, but branches that are productive are not allowed to go on, assuming that the will always produce the abundant, luscious fruit that they once produced. These branches are trimmed back so that their fruit will increase. More will be expected from them...but they will be prepared to produce more.

Wow! Can I look at my recent times of pruning as a time of preparation? God, the vinedresser has removed branches from me that produced no fruit, but even where there was fruit, he has cut that branch back...so that it would produce more. The months of questioning, self doubt, and self-pity are not punishment...they are months of pruning--removing some pride, complacency, some laziness. I give thanks for this pruning. Though it stung at the time, I couldn't see that the non-producing branch was damaging future fruit production.

And where fruit has been produced, even those branches have been cut back. I see spiritual growth, but it's not explosive...not yet. That branch needs more tending, more preparation. It has been pruned. More fruit is coming...maybe in the next season...or two or three.

Throughout this whole process I must stay attached to my vine. I am not the vine...I am a branch dependent upon the rooted vine to nourish and strengthen me. My vine is my support. One day my branch will bear so much fruit that I will need that vine to hold me up. Without strength from the vine, I will break off and die. My abundant fruit will fall to the ground and rot before it has a chance to ripen.

 

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