A Pruning Christmas

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 (John 15:1-2).

Well, it seems we are all going to have a holly, jolly, pruning Christmas.

The Oxford Languages Dictionary defines pruning in various degrees:

trim (a tree, shrub, or bush) by cutting away dead or overgrown branches or stems, especially to increase fruitfulness and growth.

cut away (a branch or stem).

reduce the extent of (something) by removing superfluous or unwanted parts.

December is a bit early for pruning where I live. Here, horticulturalists recommend removing dead branches and cutting back in late winter. February usually finds me in my rose garden, removing all the superfluous or unwanted parts (thank you, Oxford, for granting me such descriptive adjectives for what I simply call ugly, spindly, or just too much.)

Rising with our Christmas carols is the sound of our complaint this holiday. Complaint that the year has been difficult (that’s an understatement), grumbling that our freedoms are limited, groaning that things are not normal anymore. We hate pruning.

The Messiah we celebrate at Christmastime was born into pruning. From the moment of His conception, the circumstances were pruning. Branches such as Honorable Reputation, the Right to Be Understood, Fitting in with the Neighbors, Being Normal, Doing Things the Right Way, all got chopped when the betrothed virgin was found to be pregnant before the consummation of her marriage to the good carpenter.

On the night of His birth, the pruning continued. Off lopped the branches of A Warm Home to Be Born In, A Cozy Blanket, Family in the Waiting Room to Meet the New Baby, A Hearty Meal for Exhausted Mom and Dad. All stripped.

Just shy of the Savior’s two-month birthday, Mary and Joseph were forcibly displaced from Bethlehem, fleeing with the baby to Egypt to avoid his murder by Herod (See Matthew 2). Today, we call forcibly displaced people refugees. Jesus and his family became refugees, and the pruning continued. Language, Cultural Comfort, Familiar Food, Friends, Grandparents, Money; all cut off.

Immanuel, God with Us, born on Christmas Day, understands a pruning #Christmas. He is intimately familiar with a pruning life. Ultimately, He came to show us how to endure it. #2020 #Faith Click To Tweet

Jesus came to show us how to yield to the hand of the Gardener in a year like this one; to help us trust the Master Gardner God who prunes so the Vine will be even more fruitful.

The fruit of Jesus’ pruning life is nothing less than the purpose for which He was born: our salvation. 

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).

I have a purpose, and so do you. A purpose given by the One who knew us before we were conceived.

Pruning, unpleasantly, is the path to Purpose. #Year2020 #Faith #Hope Click To Tweet

Were you, like me, born into a pruning life? Are you straining under the burden of this pruning year, this pruning Christmas? 

The One who overcame the pruning life, enduring to the end, has this to say to the burdened:

Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28-29).

He learned that the hard way. He is not offering anything He did not earn. Rest comes from yielding to the Hand that prunes us. Desiring God’s will over our own. Trusting that His purpose in us will be accomplished beyond the pain of the shearing. (To see Jesus’ moment of ultimate decision in the Pruning Process, read Matthew 26:39-42.)

Jesus offers us the peace He Himself gained through the hard discipline of pruning.

Look to the Prince of Peace and let him give you rest this pruning Christmas. Trust the Gardener who sees what you and I cannot yet see: the fruit that is surely coming on the other side of this winter season.

Lord, forgive me for thinking I deserve a life free of pruning. I want to bear fruit for You. I yield my life to you anew today, for Your glory. Amen.

@audreycfrank