Pruning

Several years ago after Mark and I bought our first home Mom came over for a visit. We were out front looking at all my plants and, novice gardener that I was (and still am!) she was explaining what was what, what I could plant, what might look nice here and there. I had purchased a potted plant or something with flowers that was on the front porch and it was in a sorry state. Mom asked for clippers. I gave her the clippers and she began hacking away at the plant, even the parts that were green and living. I was like, "What are you doing!?" She said, "You prune for new growth", and then to emphasize the point, she held up her hand and one finger, "Not MY law; God's law". Of course the sorry plant resurrected and flourished henceforth...and a life lesson was secured in my mind.

In the aftermath of learning our YouthBuild program would cease to exist in a few months, I met with my staff one by one yesterday. Because each of my staff is a believer on some level, I felt confident to share John 15 with them: 

"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^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful".

I said to them, "Is this program awesome? Yes...Is our staff healthy and helpful and doing good work? Yes...But for whatever reason, God has seen fit to allow this program to be pruned from the "branch" of Covenant House...so He must know that growth needs to occur..." And further, come October, He may see fit to prune several or all of us from Covenant House. I haven't struggled with this, only because I trust the Master Gardener...and if, after 15 years of growth, I need to be pruned from this agency or the agency needs to be pruned from me, I need to trust that. I know I'm not a dead branch and that I bear fruit there and in this work...but He sees more than I do and if He wants me to become "more fruitful" apart from Covenant House, so be it, Lord...prune away...