Time to prune

"I am the vine, you are the branches."

How many times have I heard that scripture? 100's! The meaning hit me directly in the chest last night as I sat watching Beth Moore's Bible study "A Woman's Heart: God's Dwelling Place."

Let me explain. In the past several weeks, I've been struggling with all my responsibilities. From school, home, church, Mollie's sports, laundry, a clean house...... Anyway, I usually don't have too much trouble juggling all the goings on this time of year. This year has been such a hardship. I'm doing so many things and none of them very well. I'm just getting by. Spinning my wheels, so to speak. I've been praying for some kind of solution.

My house is a wreck. I don't feel like I'm pushing my kids at school like I should. It doesn't seem like I've had a decent conversation with Wade in weeks. To top it all off, I spent all last week sick with bronchitis. After feeling like I'd been run over by a truck for over a week, I knew something was going to have to give, but what?

The Lord used Beth to answer that very question, imagine that! Love her!! She was using the analogy of the design of the lampstand God directed the Israelites to make for the tabernacle. The lampstand had seven branches. She made the connection to the branches and bearing fruit. God expects us to bear fruit, good fruit. She said that, like most women, our tree is usually too full of branches to bear quality fruit. As she said, "it's time to do some pruning". That hit me like a ton of bricks. That's what I have to do, prune my branches. Like I said in this post, quality is what I want, not quantity. I spent some time in prayer last night and this morning. God opened my eyes and cleared my head. This morning,I let something at church go and before I left school, I worked on changing my schedule to better utilize my time. Hopefully, I'm on the right track. I still have my snips open and ready!

I am the 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. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him,he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15: 1-2,5

Sandy C