Pruning Makes The Fruit Easier To See

Hmmm? Really? That’s what my husband told me yesterday as I went out to pick the blackberries. “I pruned the vines, it’ll make the fruit easier to see.” This is such a truth, not only in the blackberry patch but in our spiritual growth as well. Every vine God prunes bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit (John 15:1-8) but it also makes the fruit easier to see. I had never thought of this. Last year, about this time, I was thinking about being fruitful and asked God to make me more fruitful. I recall praying that in the blackberry patch, I love praying out there. My Father and I have some good talks in the blackberry patch. I didn’t realize how much pruning He would have to do in my life to get the fruit He wanted. Pruning is painful, but necessary. This past year there has been much pruned from my life. A job I loved. People I loved. Things I loved. All of them proved to be unnecessary. Now I am stripped down and bare; like a vine in the winter. I don’t see any fruit here but I’m sure that my Father, THE Master Gardener, knows what He is doing. I trust that Spring will come and fruit will burst forth, He is faithful. And as far as the Blackberries, well, they are so much easier to pick now. And though they are almost finished I still enjoy my time in the blackberry patch as much now in August as I did in July even if it is only every other day.