Apples Everywhere!–8/29/07

All my life I have heard Jesus’ words, “I am the Vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.” I’ve preached sermons on the meaning of being pruned and how God prunes His children to produce more fruit. But I’ve never really experienced it—until now.
Last year, my dad and I cut back a lot of the trees and shrubs in my yard. In the front of my yard are three apple trees that grow together. We cut the trees back a lot last year, so much so that I thought maybe we were doing damage to the trees. Boy, was I wrong!
This year we have apples. We have so many apples that my neighbor says that she has never seen so many on the tree. So many fall off the trees every week that I’m throwing away 40-50 pounds of apples every week (we didn’t spray the trees so the fruit isn’t edible). I’m making apple sauce in my driveway because I’m driving over the apples every day! It seems the only ones that are happy are the bees that have found a feast in my driveway.
I had no idea what would happen when we pruned those trees. I thought the trees would end up damaged from what we cut from them last year. I’m sure there is no plant that loves to be pruned, just like I don’t like to have things changed or taken from my life. But what an incredible response there was after the pruning. When God prunes away the dead and useless branches, there is so much more room for fruit to grow in our lives. What is there in your life that God needs to prune away? And what fruit could you produce in your life if God were to prune your life? Got Fruit?