PRUNING

10/2/11 This weekend's cool temps coupled with a willing hubby allowed time to "tidy-up" in our yard. Notice I said yard, not lawn. We're yard kind of people so we don't have a landscape design as such. But even to this inexperienced eye, I knew we needed some pruning. If for nothing else than to bring in light to the middle of the bush. This would encourage new growth. But to get that light we had to remove dead, broken or diseased branches. Suckers, those odd branches that had started growing from the base of your tree, and even the spindly branches needed to be removed and discarded---in order for us to return it to the shape it was meant to be.

Believers are a lot like that. Believers have a spiritual shape. S.H.A.P.E. = Spiritual Gifts; Heart; Abilities; Personality; Experience. (C. Keeth) It's our God-given makeup. People have gifts to offer others, a heart that houses their passions, abilities that aid them in using their passion to minister to others, the perfect personality for their calling and the experiences that affirm this. But to maintain that "shape" one needs to rid themselves of the "useless" and to walk in the light of God's Word. Live with His perspective. Allow Him to light your path. Discard your junk. Leave it on the curb.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)

As I stated in a 3/13/11 blog, Pruning helps to bring balance and it guides the shaping of the plant (or person) to be all it (or she) was intended to be by the one (or One) who planted it. Pruning both in the garden and in our spiritual lives is necessary for healthy growth. We have to get rid of the superfluous and useless parts that compete with the healthy growth---

Prune the part that doesn't let in the needful light!

NECESSARY Pruning

3/13/11 Yesterday, I spent time with hubby in the yard with clippers and pruning shears. Felder Rushing, former Memphian, and 10th-generation American gardener, would be rolling his eyes because the Liles prune when time allows. Convenience often rules our lives even to our lawn care. I spent less time outside than hubby did though I did try not only to direct his efforts but also to try my hand with the pruning shears as well. Fatigue took me inside before the job was completed but I took a spiritual lesson with me as I closed the door to the outside world and sat at the feet of my Master Gardener.

(John 15) ¹ “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² 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.

Pruning both in the garden and in our spiritual lives is necessary for healthy growth. We have to get rid of the superfluous and useless parts that compete with the healthy growth. Pruning helps to bring balance and it guides the shaping of the plant (or person) to be all it (or she) was intended to be by the one who planted it.

These last 6-8 weeks, the Lord has begun an awareness of pruning that is needed in my life. I don’t have enough time in my day for everything. My time needs trimming and shaping. I need to know my Master Gardener’s plan for me for this season in my life. I know that pruning is painful. I just need to remember that God will never leave me and His pruning is loving surgery to allow me to let His “Sonlight” go deeper than it ever has before. If it becomes the blessing that my cancer was, I know I’m going to love the results. **

A Well pruned life---what does it look like? I’ve seen it in the lives of others---Marge Andrews, Geary Irwin, Mary Ann Frazier. But I don’t know what it looks like in my own life----but God ….God willing and guiding (“apart from Me, you can do nothing.” John 15:6), I’m going to find out because I have recently enrolled in Basic Pruning 101, A Guide to NECESSARY Pruning. Care to join me? The text is God’s Word and is free on-line.

**Before I even could post this blog entry, I received an upsetting phone call. I had planned to be in KY this week for the first part of Spring Break. My cardiologist visit on Wednesday and another carotid artery “episode” thwarted those plans.

This phone call was from brother, Bobby, with an update on Daddy. Friday, Daddy had trouble eating lunch because his right hand was swollen & wouldn’t work for him. Care clinic and ER visits showed no stroke but an appointment was set for Monday with his internist. Late this afternoon an ambulance took him to Jennie Stuart hospital. Daddy has had a stroke and though we’re hopeful it’s mild, he couldn’t recall Bobby’s name or remember his own birth date.

Please join me in praying God’s best for Daddy.

FEASTING ON GOD'S WORD

8/23/09
Virginia Wolf once said, One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. Most Americans, especially now that we have the “food channel,” would buy into this notion hook, line and sinker. But there is another food that helps us think well, love well, and sleep well. There is a feast awaiting us. The morsels provided are fodder for the soul. This fare that is more nourishing and without all those empty calories is found in God’s Word.

If I had a Twitter account, yesterday my “tweet” would have read, “Gone to Kroger, only b/c Darnell Farms in NC is too far away, for a watermelon! Many know why. My plan for the day was to feed my soul on John 15 and my body on watermelon. I did both and how SWEET it was! “How sweet are Thy words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth.” (Psalm 119: 103)

1”I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.2Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” (John 15:1-3)

I learned that the word prune in verse 2 and clean in verse 3 come from the same GK root word, KATHAROS. There is indeed a cleansing that comes when we are washed (THOT--purged of ungodliness?) by The Word and thus able to bear fruit.

I also learned from some of my marginalia that we are chosen, blessed and broken for the nourishment of the world. But how can we nourish others if we have not been feeding on His Word ourselves?

Now that you’ve dined on this, I hope you sleep well. Goodnight!