Easter Devotion Thursday

Pruning helps trees bear healthy fruit. It does not make them look more beautiful, but it does make them more fruitful. Unneccessary branches must by pruned, cut off, so that the tree can produce all the fruit it can.

In his striking image of the vine and the branches, Jesus speaks of how our lives need to be pruned by God. Those parts of our lives that lead us to resist Jesus’ way of love have to be stripped away. This pruning is done directly by the vinedresser, the Father, cutting the branches.

This pruning usually occurs when we experience hardship and humiliation. Through difficult times, we are challenged to recognize God’s pruing hand. Only then will we be accepting of God’s cleansing work in our lives instead of resisting it.