Pruning the Lemon Tree

When we moved into our place a year and a half ago (last winter) I was so excited to have my own lemon tree.  Our landlord told us because we live in the Middle East, it has no season, which meant, it has fruit all the time and THIS tree had an abundance of fruit all year long.  He also briefly mentioned that it really needed to be pruned so that it would continue to produce fruit.

So I took initiative and within the first few weeks I had our flower guy come by and prune it so we would be set for summer!  I used the lemons that were on the tree to make my own limoncello (amazing) and lemonade.

A few weeks after the tree was pruned my landlord’s wife was over and she commented on how nice the tree looked and casually mentioned that it would not produce fruit for a year.  My mouth dropped.  My heart stopped.  Had I known, I probably would NOT have had it pruned.  The pruning suddenly seemed like a waste of time and money.  Now I have fruit tree just sitting here doing nothing.  Yet it is NOT doing NOTHING.  It is, in fact, doing something… growing, healing and preparing to produce a HIGHER yield of fruit.  The cutting, however necessary, shocked it and it needed some time to be able to get up and running again.

So after a fruitless summer with very few blooms, there are a handful of ripe lemons… but, after a winter of rains, a spring full of sweetly scented blossoms and now a tree full of all sized lemons… I will have an incredible harvest of fruit very, very soon!  At the present, however, I’m extremely excited to pick the few lemons that are ripe!!

I’m reminded of what the Bible says about bearing fruit and pruning in John 15.  I’ve included a few excerpts…

“I am the true 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…. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.”

God purposefully prunes those branches that bear fruit so that it will be even MORE fruitful.  Most of the time it does not seem or feel that pruning is doing more good than bad.  I can say from experience that pruning hurts and sometimes renders one unfruitful for a while.  This passage seems to work together with Hebrews 12.

“‘My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.’Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. “Make level paths for your feet,”so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.”

So… here is for a rich harvest for both my lemon tree and me!