Pruning, Cutting, Burning

​In the past few weeks we have been transplanting plants around our property–splitting some, giving some away, and just generally taking care of what can, at times, look like some pretty holy chaos rising from the earth. As part of this tending and pruning and rearranging, we moved my spouse’s Don Juan climbing roses from the west side of our house to a bed on the north side.

The reason for the move was twofold:  1) The plant itself had outgrown its original trellis and a larger trellis would not fit in its original spot; and 2) The plant hadn’t flowered. After researching, my spouse discovered two potential issues:  One with the soil, and one with the hours of sunlight needed for the plant to put on flowers. So, a trellis was built, the roses were dug up, and the soil in the new spot was amended. Then my spouse did one last thing:  They cut off all the branches, leaves, and shoots, and just left the main stem–the main vine.

I asked them why they did this and my spouse explained that transplanting is traumatic for any plant. By cutting off all of the leaves and branches and just leaving the main, thorny cane, the climbing Don Juans could put all of their energy into their roots in order to get established before winter comes. It is, it seems, in the cutting back that growth begins.

Throughout nature we see something similar occur. If someone wants their grass to grow more, one of the best things that can be done is to cut it. If more fruit growth is desired on a tomato plant, cutting the suckers is a great place to start. If a prairie is to be lush, beautiful, and full of all kinds of helpful plants, burning that prairie back periodically is a great place to start. 

In Malachi 3:2, we read in Malachi’s classic and poetic, yet terse, literary style, that God is like “a refiner’s fire” or “the cleaner’s soap” (Common English Bible), ridding us of all that is damaging to our relationships with God and one another, and keeping us from fullness of life. Which means that God isn’t just in the big, beautiful roses that bloom, or in the hearty tomato, or the lush prairie. God is in the cutting back, the burning away, and the pruning. God meets us in the bare cane, the ashen earth, and the pulled sucker and then does something BEAUTIFUL from the place where all seems lost or destroyed or pulled apart. God pushes out new life–birthing in us and around us something far more wonderful than we could ever ask or imagine. 

So this week I’m wondering, what needs cutting back in your life so that growth can happen? What in your life needs to be burned away in order to make way for something far more lush and beautiful to spring up? What are the “suckers” growing on your vine–sucking energy and nutrients from you and keeping you from bearing good, hearty fruit? 

Maybe it’s the phone that you can’t seem to put down. Maybe it’s a relationship that is so all-consuming that the rest of your life is now falling apart. Maybe it’s “the hustle” that you are so afraid to step away from for fear that, if you do, the worth that you tie to that hustle will go right out the window with it. Maybe it’s gossip or drama. Maybe it’s spreading yourself too thin. Maybe it’s a need to be right or to win in an argument. Maybe it’s forcing your way to be your children’s way. Maybe it’s a combination of all of these…maybe it’s none of these things. Only you can answer for yourself. 

So this week, may we open our calendars, our to-do lists, our minds, our hearts, indeed, our very lives, to the possibility of pruning and burning away. It just might be the start of something beautiful and new.

Pruning away with you,
Pr. Melissa

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