Hanging On...

Recently I found this dead branch hanging from the locust tree in my backyard.  It had been dead for a long time as it had lichen growing on it, but it had finally gotten pruned by the wind and fallen from high in the tree.  However, before it could hit ground it was caught by a lower branch and there it hung.

As I looked at it I wondered what dead things there might be in my life that the Spirit had started to prune but which where still hung up or I was still clinging to so that the process was not complete and I still carried them around with me.  Some candidates came to mind … and maybe you have some in your life, too.

•   Clinging to a past self when I had…(hair, muscles, a figure, energy, dark hair, fill in the blank)
• The way things used to be
• Doing things MY way
• My comfort, peace, carefully structured life
• What is the Spirit saying to you?

Jesus tells us:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

John 15:1-2

The Father has identified those dead branches in our lives and by the action of his Spirit he is pruning them, not to harm us but so that we can more fully receive and live the life of Jesus and so bear fruit.  As those dead branches get shaken loose by the Spirit, let’s not cling to them or allow them to get hung up in our lives.  Let them fall away so that we can fully give ourselves to the new growth which bears fruit.