Connection With God

As someone who enjoys gardening, I know that it is necessary to prune back my bushes and trees regularly so that they will be healthy and thrive the next season. Hydrangeas are my favorite and every fall it is hard to cut off their blooms because they add so much color to my front yard. The flowers bring me joy when I return home from a long day and turn into my driveway. But I know that my hydrangeas will bloom abundantly the next season when I prune them in the fall or late winter by cutting the stems back to just above a fat bud. Deadheading hydrangeas helps increase blooms and keeps them looking neat within the overall landscape of my garden. 

In the same way, pruning is an essential part of abiding in God as well to help us have a healthy connection with God and one another. Verse 2 of lesson this week talks about God pruning branches that bear fruit, so that they may bear more fruit. This is different from “removing every branch that bears no fruit.” Pruning is not about being cut off from God and thrown away. Instead, it brings to mind the relationship between growth and fruitfulness and limitations. Part of the process of growing in faith and in healthy relationship to others involves learning about our limitations and where to place boundaries so that our energies can be directed to more fruitful places. This could look like a lot of different things. For example, there may be unhealthy or destructive relationships that require boundary-setting so we can focus more on fruitful ones; perhaps God is calling us to examine how and with whom we spend our time; maybe God is asking (or forcing) us to take on less commitments or to refocus our commitments, so we can nurture our relationship with God (and, by extension, have more fruitful relationships with others); sometimes we simply go through seasons of constraint or restraint that open the way for future growth. The goal of all this pruning and abiding is that we might experience complete joy in Jesus (verse 11). 

I wonder, is there any pruning happening in your life right now? Limits that need to be set, boundaries drawn, or spiritual disciplines practiced so that you can grow in your relationship to God and others. 

"Communicating with God is the most extraordinary experience imaginable, yet at the same time it's the most natural one of all, because God is present in us at all times. Omniscient, omnipotent, personal-and loving us without conditions. We are connected as One through our divine link with God.” – Eben Alexander 

Wrestling With the Word: John 15:1 - 12

Next Steps

Prayer

Creator God, we turn to you, asking for the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit to unite us in the name of Jesus. Center my life in you. Through our reflection, deepen our connections with you, one another, our community and with all the world. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we offer this prayer. Amen.

Daily Reading for the Week Ahead