Pinch Those Suckers Out!

 

He takes away every branch that does not bear fruit in me. He prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit.  John 15:2

 When Covid hit, and it became clear that this was a real issue and would not be resolved in  a couple of weeks, I decided to grow a victory garden. I needed something to do to keep my mind off of the drama, something I could do at home that would engage my hands and my brain. I remember being in Lowe’s (our local hardware store) trying to pick up the last few things we needed before the impending shutdown and announcements coming over the loudspeaker about social distancing and being sure to wear your mask. It was so surreal and even a little apocalyptic feeling. I headed home, seed starting trays in hand, and went to work.

 For weeks, my sitting room was turned into a greenhouse with baby plants everywhere! You can see in the picture that I didn’t even have the foresight to buy a watering can (I probably thought I must certainly have one of those somewhere) so I improvised with a gravy boat. How I coddled those little seedlings! They were carefully watered, not too little, not too much. They were put on heating pads for sprouting and given lamps for just the right amount of light once they’d popped their leaves out from under the surface of the soil. I transitioned them carefully outside, first into an outdoor greenhouse, and then to their beds.

 The plants looked so very small in their then-giant beds! They seemed so vulnerable. We set up watering systems to keep them hydrated and I gathered up frames to put around them in anticipation of their growth. Even though I’d grown a garden, and even specifically tomato plants in my garden before, I was still amazed when I went away for a week and came back to find them taller than me!

 The difference in this year’s garden, apart from the pandemic of course, was that I had been learning about how to best care for my tomato plants as they grew. Before I had just stuck them in the ground, watered them, and hoped for the best! This time, I watch YouTube video after YouTube video on pruning, wanting to grow the best plants and receive the best fruit possible. I spent hours every week out in the garden taking care of it. The fire season was especially bad that summer and, because of the air pollution, I often had to wear a mask (no I wasn’t afraid of catching Covid out in the garden).

 So why did I prune the tomatoes? What difference did it make from the previous years where I just plopped them in the ground? You see, from each point where a branch attaches to the vine, the plant has a tendency to grow “suckers.” Why are they called that? Well, they suck the life out of the plant! Suckers, if left to themselves, will grow bigger and stronger, mimicking a branch, but the fruit that they can bear is minimal, and comes at a great cost. The plant only has so much energy that it can derive from the soil and the sun. If it has new growth, like suckers, it will devote much of it’s precious energy to them, instead of strengthening the branches and preparing them for fruit. So what’s a gardener to do? You pluck those suckers out! Almost daily I was out there pinching suckers out of the “armpits” of the plant. When I went away for that week I mentioned above, I came back to find that the sucker population had taken over and gotten away from me. You almost couldn’t tell what was a sucker and what was a branch anymore!

 God spoke to me so much that summer through those tomato plants! He showed me that even though I was in a season of pruning, and it hurt, it was for my ultimate good and His ultimate glory. He taught me that the things He was removing from my life, even if they didn’t seem like bad things, were sucking the life out of me. He had a greater vision and purpose and I just needed to trust His perfect hand and His careful pruning to shape me into the person He had designed me to be. Just like the tomato plant, I saw new growth and sent all my energy towards it. But He knew that some of that new growth wouldn’t be very fruitful, and certainly not worth my energy in the long run. Several dreams died that summer, but new ones took their place.

 Sure enough, those plants were fruitful! Even though I hadn’t tended them perfectly, even though I had let them go for a week and chaos took over, they still produced more tomatoes than I knew what to do with!

Here's the Thing: God knew best, and He used my summer with the tomato plants to help me realize and accept His heart and purpose in pruning my life. He wasn’t doing it to be mean or to hurt me. On the contrary, He loves me so very much that He wants the best for me, even if it requires a little pain along the way.

Abiding in Jesus

  1. Week 1: Trusting the Gardener's Work
    1. John 15:1 - Seven Things Jesus Is
    2. John 15:2 - Pinch Those Suckers Out!
    3. Philippians 2:12-13 - Working Out My Salvation
    4. Matthew 5:16 - Stay Salty!
    5. 1 John 1:6 - Walking in Relationship
  2. Week 2: Bearing Lasting Fruit
    1. John 15:3-4
    2. John 15:5
    3. John 15:6
    4. Psalm 1:2-3
    5. Galatians 5:22
  3. Week 3: Abiding in Jesus Through His Word
    1. John 15:7-8
    2. John 8:31-32
    3. Psalm 119:9-11
    4. Psalm 119:15-16
    5. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
  4. Week 4: Abiding in Jesus Through Obedience
    1. John 15:9-10
    2. James 1:22
    3. 1 John 3:24
    4. Matthew 7:24-25
    5. John 14:23-24
  5. Week 5: Abiding in Jesus Through Love
    1. John 15:11-12
    2. John 15:13-14
    3. 1 John 4:10
    4. 1 John 4:11-12
    5. Romans 12:9-13
  6. Week 6: Chosen and Commissioned by Christ to Bear Fruit
    1. John 15:15
    2. John 15:16
    3. Ephesians 2:10
    4. Galatians 6:9
    5. John 15:17

Wrap-Up

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