“Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.” John 15:2
I spent a good part of Wednesday pruning my Knock Out rose bushes. It was hard to do because those bushes are in full, lush bloom, and many of the roses that I clipped were absolutely stunning (despite, alas, having little to no scent). It took a while because I used a hand-held pruner and examined each blossom, seeking the correct notch on the stem before clipping. Plus, these particular roses have lots and lots of thorns. Yet I knew that for all the present lushness, if I did not prune the bushes, they would not continue to bloom abundantly.
As I was clipping, I couldn’t help but think of Christ’s words about being the true vine and the pruning that is required for us to bear the fruit God has called us to bear. That led me to reflecting on all the current pruning Covid-19 has imposed on us. Dennis and I were supposed to be in Reno, NV today, celebrating the long-awaited graduation of our nephew who conquered many challenges to earn his B.S. in Material Engineering. But that trip got pruned. The activities that I was involved in that were life-giving prior to Covid-19 got clipped off. Being with friends and family has been snipped away. Simply going to the grocery store and smiling at other people has been lobbed off. While these prunings certainly haven’t been as tragic as the loss of a loved one or the loss of a job, they are still my personal prunings; they still affect me, just like the soft red petals that gathered at my feet.
I don’t believe our loving Creator “caused” Covid-19, but I do think the Creator can transform this current pruning time into abundant blessings, that our Creator knows exactly, intimately, where each one of us is feeling loss or disappointment or discontent and meets us there with reassurance, that the Creator tends to each of us even more lovingly and carefully than I tend to my roses. For me, this time of pruning is also a time of being grounded, that only by growing down, deeper and deeper into God/Spirit, can I then grow upward. Somehow, knowing that when I do this rooting, my pruning then will have meaning and a purpose, makes it worthwhile.
This devotional was originally posted on Reverend Rosemary McMahan’s personal Facebook page. She was invited to contribute to this blog by the NAP Peacemaking Task Force.