More on Pruning

In pruning a vine, two principles are usually observed.

1. All dead wood must be ruthlessly removed. Dead wood is a container of insects and disease. These can cause the vine to rot, to decay and to be more unproductive.

2. the live wood must be cut back drastically. Live wood has to be trimmed back in order to prevent such heavy growth that the life of the vine goes into the wood rather than into bearing fruit.

In the springtime the vineyard is comprised of barren and bleeding stumps, but in the fall they are filled with luscious purple grapes.

In a believers life the cutting back of live wood can seem almost cruel, yet those who have been willing to suffer most often are the ones who bear much fruit.

John the Gospel of Belief, Merrill C. Tenney pp 227,228