The Path to Abundant, Plentiful Fruit

I realize I have been silent on here as of late. As I continue this journey of education, I realize this blog will be something I will occasionally still post to, but definitely not regularly. Thank you for understanding.

I have had a few thoughts swirling in my head this past week and felt the tug to write through them on here. John 15:1-2 "I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 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." I have heard this passage has been taught on many times, yet it has taken another turn in my life. When the Lord has cut off branches that do not produce fruit in my life there has been pain, but it makes sense, yet as this passage states He also prunes those branches that do bear fruit. The Lord gave me a picture of a rose bush in fall, it is tall, the branch making it look as if next year the bush will be bigger and bloom more than ever. This is deceiving. I remember the first year I had a rosebush, thinking this would make it a better bush the next year. The problem is with the long branches now that the rosebush is putting all its' energy into giving life to these branches there is little energy left to be given to producing rosebuds, the "fruit" of the bush.

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This struck me in a new way. Pruning is not all about getting rid of the dead and diseased branches, it is also about cutting back the good. We cut back the good so that our energies are for those things to which we have been specifically called. I have done this numerous times as I cut back my rosebushes and I have done it some in life. However this fall as I began this new journey I had to cut many, many things out. It has been painful. In roses it looks like we are killing the bush, yet for more fruit this is what is necessary. In our lives it can feel like death, taking from our lives these "good" things that feel like they give us life. If I am totally honest, it is not until the pain is too great that I am willing to pry open my hands and give up what have been grasping to for dear life. Others may not understand how we can give up "good" things and may resist us. However, it is a necessary season. And as everything is cut back bare, we can only rely on Jesus to give us what we need as we are no longer filled by these other things. Then, we are able to put our energies into those few branches left and they can bear abundant fruit. Living an abundant life does not mean there will never be pain, it means we pour into the few things Jesus calls us to rather than the many the world calls us to.

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Jesus is so kind. We always have choice. He understands if we do not wish to set all these things aside to find our source from Him alone. Yet He also continues to invite us as He knows it is only when we surrender all to Him that we can bear abundant fruit. While it is painful to submit to His pruning, I know the life offered here is better than I can imagine once I pass through the death. This is the way of our Lord and Savior, what seems like death leads to life.

For me as I have struggled through the pain of this season, it helps to remember it is a season and it is for my good. It is not punishment, but love that calls us into these times of pruning.  

I invite you to take this deeper. Take some time in quiet contemplation and ask yourself the following questions. Invite Jesus to be present with you and ask Him what is His view in this.

Where season are you in? A few I can think of are: the budding season, the growing season, the harvest, dormancy and the season of pruning.

If you are in a season of pruning, how does it feel? Has it felt like punishment? Can you ask Jesus about this? Why is He pruning you?

Are there things to which you are clinging because of the bits of life they bring? What does Jesus invite you to? Many times we cling to these things and Jesus invites us to open our hands. Can you physically do that right now? Clench your hands, notice how you feel. Then release and open your hands, notice what happens inside.

The Seasons Continue

Seasons by Yucki

Ecclesiastes 3:1 For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.

I like to find a comfortable groove. I like to figure out what works and then rest there. However, I haven't found life to work like this. It seems just when I think I have figured out how to do one thing, life changes. My son graduated this year and my second child will graduate next year. Then thankfully we have some time before the youngest is ready. But this is a different season from when I was bringing each of my three children home from the hospital. A new learning curve. It's great and hard at the same time.

It's been important for me to be home with my children, and I've been blessed with an understanding husband. Even though it's made finances tight I've always only worked part-time. And now we have another season we are embarking upon. Ministry has been amazing, challenging me to learn and become more confident in who God has created me to be. And now this fall, I feel called back to school to add to what the Lord has been teaching me and leading me in. Time for another learning curve. It's exciting and scary, all at the same time.

What will my future look like? What is the Lord leading me into? I don't know for sure and that's scary, but He often has asked me to Trust in Him and to wait on His timing. I am not to know all He has for me. But I understand it is part of the seasons, it is part of trust. Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. 

What season are you in or getting ready to enter right now? What are you feeling as you enter the change?

Seasons of Life

Ecclesiastes 3:1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

As I lay here and look out my bedroom window at the leaves clinging to the trees, I am reminded of the seasons we all experience in our lives, just as the natural world we see goes through seasons.

As I battled depression back in 2006-2010 I thought the darkness had swallowed me whole and I wasn't sure I would ever come out. I felt as if all hope was gone, nothing I did seemed to help me get out of this pit. It felt like the icy cold of winter when nothing seems to be alive.

Then with graciousness there came a time of thawing. New life began to emerge as Jesus began mending wounds inside of me that haunted all that I was. It was hard work, as birthing new life often is, but yet it was gorgeous to look around and see the budding that happens in springtime as well.

Summertime came where it felt like there was so much love and splendor and all seemed right. It was wonderful. Days of basking in the Light, growth all around. But as with all the seasons, even the ones that seem wonderful must end. Things begin to cool off and start going to sleep as they ready for the winter ahead.

There are the days of harvest. And when growth seems to be dying back. Leaves fall, plants go into hibernation. Then come the days of winter once more where there seems to be no life.

Somehow I believed that when I became a Christian at 11 that now life would all be good. Jesus was my personal Savior, but I grew up in a legalistic culture and soon following rules became the most important thing. Along with making sure others thought well of me. But then came the winter of depression. In this time I tried myself to pull myself up out of the pit. But I failed miserably. To this I am grateful. I would never have met Jesus once more in such a real and powerful way.

Another thing I've learned along the way is even when we follow Jesus closely we will still have seasons of winter. I'm not sure why I didn't think this would happen. Jesus tells His disciples, "In this world you will have trouble." How did I miss this for so long? How did I think now that Jesus was my Savior, I'd have it easy and I'd live happily ever after? Did you ever feel that way, that life should be easy because you are a Believer?

What I've been learning as I've traveled through these distinctly different seasons is to lean into the discomfort or the joy of the current season. To be fully present to what's happening is helpful to me. I used to try to shut my feelings down, become a robot. It didn't work so well! But I've learned how valuable they are and how much they help me if I pay attention and allow them to teach me.

What about you? Which season are you in right now?