Pruning is too cool!

Joh 15:1  "I am the true grapevine, and My Father is the gardener.
Joh 15:2  He cuts off every branch of Mine that doesn't produce fruit, and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.
Joh 15:3  You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.
Joh 15:4  Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in Me.

There is something so cool about reading Jesus teaching and then studying the concepts he used. Jesus was the meanest communicator. I guess he was probably talking to a lot of 'planty' people who understood his illustrations. just buzzing after I read all of John 15 and then looked up pruning in wikipaedia. you might not have time to read it but it's here if you do.

Key verse if you want the inspirational bit...
Joh 15:7  But if you remain in Me and My words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!
it's a kind of a 'if that, then this' statement and it all means heaps more if you read the whole chapter.

Read the following in light of our lives and God's careful attention to every part that makes us who we are.

Pruning is a horticultural practice involving the selective removal of parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots. Reasons to prune plants include deadwood removal, shaping (by controlling or directing growth), improving or maintaining health, reducing risk from falling branches, preparing nursery specimens for transplanting, and both harvesting and increasing the yield or quality of flowers and fruits. The practice entails targeted removal of diseased, damaged, dead, non-productive, structurally unsound, or otherwise unwanted tissue from crop and landscape plants. Specialized pruning practices may be applied to certain plants, such as roses, fruit trees, and grapevines. Different pruning techniques may be deployed on herbaceous plants than those used on perennial woody plants. Hedges, by design, are usually (but not exclusively) maintained by hedge trimming, rather than by pruning.
Arborists, orchardists, and gardeners use various garden tools and tree cutting tools designed for the purpose, such as hand pruners, loppers, or chainsaws. In nature, meteorological conditions such as wind, ice and snow, and seawater mist can cause plants to self-prune. This natural shedding is called abscission.
In general, the smaller the branch that is cut, the easier it is for a woody plant to compartmentalize the wound and thus limit the potential for pathogen intrusion and decay. It is therefore preferable to make any necessary formative structural pruning cuts to young plants, when possible, rather than removing large, poorly placed branches from mature plants.

He loves us, of this I am convinced.