Pruning and Cleaning

Although it somewhat early in the year for pruning that's what I was thinking about last weekend.

The Gardener prunes those branches that do bear fruit, so that they will bear even more fruit. It seems a bit harsh that the reward for producing fruit is to get a severe trimming.

But the original language of this piece is old-fashioned Greek and in Greek, the word καθαιρω also means cleaning as well as pruning.

Perhaps it makes more sense to give the fruitful branches a thorough spring clean in order that they will make the most fruit ing the coming year. On the other hand, as with roses and many other plants, bigger and better fruit and flowers are more often produced if the weak branches are removed and the long branches are shortened.

I think that if we are all honest with ourselves, there are some parts of our lives that do not produce as much sweet fruit as we would like them to produce. I know that this is true for myself. None of us are perfect. We all have room for improvement.

Some of us are carrying too much baggage. We are loaded down with trouble, worry, complexity, burdens, that we are not meant to be carrying. They are slowing us down, consuming our energy and resources, restricting our fruitfulness. Pruning, cleansing, helps us to cut away some of the retaining straps on these heavy loads. It cuts them away, like secateurs cut away the dead branches that are no use anymore. We are released to spring forward on our journey in the Master's footsteps.

If the metaphor of pruning and cleaning does not appeal to you, then you can be glad that I haven't been talking about the refining fire that burns away the dross and leaves behind the pure 100% gold!

Enjoy a fruitful year!