I met with our student team of spiritual life leaders recently and we reflected on Jesus’ teaching to his disciples – “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Luke 15:5
As we talked, dreamed, and prayed about all we hope to do this year to cultivate faith in our lives and on campus, Jesus offered us a sobering truth that apart from God we can do nothing. Sure, we can do a lot of stuff – but apart from life with God, we can do no thing of eternal value. We can’t produce the fruit of the Kingdom of God.
As we talked about this, an image came to mind of the apple tree in my yard. More than watering or even pruning, what that tree needs right now is thinning. Thinning a fruit tree is an incredibly important part of producing a robust crop – and I hate doing it. In pruning, you remove what is dead or problematic for growth. I love pruning. It is easy to see what needs to be loped off and the end result is a happy tree and dead wood on the ground. But thinning? Thinning is painful because you are removing perfectly good fruit to produce what is best. In thinning, you may need to remove up to two-thirds of a tree’s fruit to ensure that enough space, light, and nutrients can get to the remaining fruit. Whenever I thin a fruit tree, I am almost apologetic to the perfectly good apples or peaches I am twisting off and dropping to the ground. I have to remind myself that I am making an important investment in quality over quantity.
I wonder if the principle of thinning is particularly relevant to us today. We are busy. Like really, really busy. Our kids are too. Our lives and theirs are full of lots of very good and important things. But as we all know, our busy lives make it difficult to spend time with Jesus, to abide with God, to receive the life and nourishment and light we receive only from him. We are too rushed in the morning to start our day with Jesus and help our kids see and develop the same habit. Weekend plans crowd out worshiping together on Sunday morning. The speed and noise of life make prayer, reflection, and conversation difficult. Our life is so very full of so many things. But often these good and important things crowd out the space, light, and nutrients we need to produce the good fruit of life with God. The hard truth is that to make space for this, to thin our lives would ask us to remove some perfectly good fruit. This may feel impossible, and it would certainly come with loss but like my apple tree, it is only by removing the excess of good that we can make space for what is best.
by Susanna Hoke, King’s Schools
King’s Schools exists to deliver an exceptional Christian education instructed by called, caring individuals that believe and have professed their personal faith in Jesus Christ. The King’s educational experience distinguishes the Bible as supreme authority in life and equips our students to be leaders able to live out their faith as a practical demonstration of God’s love.
