I’m not opposed to prunes. Those mega-raisins taste pretty good. In fact, I think we have some in the top shelf of the upper cabinet, back in the corner, behind the seasoned bread crumbs and cocoa powder.

Have you seen the TV commercial where the lady is looking all snappy and happy and her friends say, “Wow, you look goooood”? And she says it’s all because she’s been eating prunes? Then she pulls them out of her purse?

I don’t carry prunes in my purse.

I don’t know anyone who carries single pack servings of prunes in their tote bag.

Where was I going with this? Oh, yes.

The prune commercial reminded me of pruning, as in, “to cut or lop off undesired twigs or branches; to remove anything that is considered superfluous or undesirable.” (Superfluous: “excessive, unnecessary, needless”)

In a few days we will enter into the season of Lent.

“Lent is about
thinning our lives
in order to
thicken our communion
with God.”
Alicia Britt Chole

Our God is a Master Gardener who would like to do some work in our hearts in the coming weeks. Maybe some thinning here, some pruning there. It could be painful, but the reward is a higher, wider, longer, deeper, thicker sense of His presence in our lives.

I just might carry a package of prunes in my purse during Lent. It will remind me to let the tender hand of the Gardener remove anything superfluous in order to make more room for Him.

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.
John 15:2