Gospel: John 15: 1-8
In gardening it is often necessary to prune and trim bushes, plants, and trees so that they might continue to live and flourish. The removal of dead branches, limbs, and leaves is obviously important so that the rest of the item may continue to survive and live. Yet even these dead items can be burned and their ashes used to improve the soil for the ongoing growth of the plant. Nothing is a complete waste in God's creation.
Also, though, even healthy limbs are sometimes cut in plants for its full flourishing and growth in a particular direction. If hedges are not trimmed they grow wild and appear unseemly. When the hedge is trimmed its shape is more stately and its appearance more pleasing to the eye. Even rose bushes are pruned of healthy blooms in certain places so that the full bush grows even more beautiful and less wild.
In our spiritual lives it is the same. We must remove dead things that no longer give life to us and become a hindrance to our very survival. But we must also at times remove even healthy things so that we grow in a particular direction to which God calls us in our life, so that we do not grow wild. All of this requires constant discernment and submission to God's will for us so that we may achieve our full potential and flourish.
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