SUMMER PRUNING

The rain we had the other evening didn't spoil the flowers in our garden, so I took some photographs this morning. We have had quite a lot of sunshine lately and that, combined with the rain, has meant that the summer flowers are looking good.

However, I'm not very good at dead-heading my flowers and often wait too long to cut off the spent ones - I know that not letting certain flowers go to seed will be much better for them and may even result in a late flush of blooms in a few weeks' time. In fact, when we look after our plants, it is a sort of pruning, albeit light pruning when the flowers have finished blooming.

I guess my life is a bit like that too - often I don't get rid of the stuff that needs to go with the consequence that I am almost overwhelmed with having too much to do, too much paperwork to sort out and too much to read - so instead of being selective, I try and spread myself too thinly and then I find that I am not doing much good anywhere. Perhaps I need to look at where I can "prune" things out of my life so that I can be more fruitful.

Some of my favourite verses are quoted below, where Jesus speaks to his disciples - I need to remind myself of the last phrase every day "apart from me you can do nothing" and ensure that I am always connected to the vine.

‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,
while every branch that does bear fruit
he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
You are already clean
because of the word I have spoken to you.
Remain in me, as I also remain in you.
No branch can bear fruit by itself;
it must remain in the vine.
Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
I am the vine; you are the branches.
If you remain in me and I in you,
you will bear much fruit;
apart from me you can do nothing.'
John 15 : 1-5 New International Version