A Pilgrim's Journal

	"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 are already clean because of the word I have
	spoken to you.  Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch
	can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither
	can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
 
	"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me
	and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do
	nothing.  If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch
	that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up,
	thrown into the fire and burned.  If you remain in me and my
	words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given
	you.  This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit,
	showing yourselves to be my disciples."
  
	   John 15:1-8 (NIV 1984)

One guy shared a story about how he had someone prune his trees a while back. After the pruning, there were so many branches cut off that he was rather disappointed with the results, but he was assured that more air could flow through the tree, and he would get more fruit.

Sure enough, the next year he got a terrific amount of fruit. He called up the pruner to tell him, and the next stage in pruning was to take off the smaller fruit. Otherwise the tree would be overloaded. To get large juicy fruit, the tree had to be pruned yet again, even of its beginning fruit, so it could focus on just the good ones.