Pruning season

(This is another excerpt from my personal journal. It was written this past Saturday.)

My pace has slowed considerably today as I paused to rest. I emerged from our bedroom a short while ago having closed myself therein for some quiet respite. The light of the day was yielding to the purple hues of dusk. As the evening was setting in I laid across on our bed watching the light fade outside the window; silhouetting the trees and hilly terrain of the countryside beyond our own land. I prayed silently as I observed the branches of the oak tree next to our home bending to and fro in the cold winds swirling outside. Stubbornly clinging to those limbs were the few remaining leaves which just weeks ago provided us with shade as we sat beneath them.

This is the view from our bedroom window.

At this moment in my life it feels as though the sun is setting and night is fast approaching; as if the warm months have given way to a season of cold days and abbreviated light. As the snow swirls about, mingled with the dead foliage of the season past, I remember that this must take place before the tender shoots of springtime can emerge. I mustn’t be like those stubborn oaks; clinging to their remaining brown, shriveled leaves as if they still served a purpose. Let go of last season’s fruits and prepare for the one yet to come.

Such a gloomy mood I’m in; finding it difficult to completely purge myself of it! I labor to remind myself that God prunes us; He cultivates us; He does what He does to optimize the fruit we will yield. In our season we will yield our fruit!

Please read John15: 1-5 and Gal.6:9