The Art of Pruning: Trusting the Master Gardener

By mid-May, my husband and I are able to get our tomato plants in the ground. Each season it’s the same routine— I plant our starts deeply, and he follows after me with a ladder, mallet, and 8ft. long furring strips, pounding them into the ground behind each plant. Those furring strips are sky-high compared to my tiny tomato plants, but by the end of the growing season, each plant will reach the very top laden with tomatoes.

I achieve this by aggressively pruning all the little offshoots that develop along the main stem. My plants put all of their energy into growing up and developing flowers (and in turn fruit) along that stem. These tall plants are also more disease-resistant and often live until the first fall frost.

It’s a labor of love all summer long, but the harvest is rewarding.

In a physical and spiritual sense, pruning isn’t without stress. To an untrained eye, my snipping of healthy green foliage might look reckless, but I know it’s actually beneficial! It’s the same in our walk with the Lord. Jesus tells us, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit” (John 15:1-2, CSB).

There might be fruitful areas of your life that suddenly seem like they’re not producing. Perhaps you’re in a season where once vibrant and thriving work or ministry seems to have become fallow. It can be discouraging, and you might even question the Lord.

Let this not be a season of doubt, but one where you trust the trained eye of a Master Gardener.

While it might feel counterproductive, pruning doesn’t remove good fruit, it brings an increase. It brings health and abundance. When it feels like you’re under duress, and the fruit you once saw isn’t there, yield to the process. Ask the Lord how to partner with the pruning He may be doing in your life. Thank Him when you experience situations that look like a loss, because He might just be preparing you for an abundant harvest.

Thank You, Lord, for the pruning You do in our lives. While it may feel painful at times, help us trust You. May it bring You glory.

Meet the Author
Mary Kate Brown

Mary Kate and her husband Brian are high-school sweethearts who left their lifelong home in the Chicago suburbs to build their homestead in rural Western Michigan. She's a homeschooling mama of four daughters and a homebody who enjoys making hot breakfasts, working in her garden, and frequenting the local farmers market. After overcoming health challenges due to autoimmunity, her passion is pursuing wholeness beyond her diagnosis. She encourages other mamas to do the same to shape the wellness of their families.