SEASON OF PREPARATION

February is a season of preparation—a time when the land rests, yet the most important work is being done. One of the most vital tasks this month is pruning—cutting back trees while they are dormant to ensure stronger, healthier growth in spring. 

Without summer’s foliage to distract from imperfections, we can see what is fruitful and what is not. A skilled gardener knows pruning must happen in the quiet, hard season, when growth has paused and silence settles in.

Likewise, in life, when trials push us into winter and the rustling leaves of abundance and busyness are stripped away, what is no longer—or perhaps never was—best for us is revealed. We shouldn’t be surprised to see the pruners at work. 

Yet this is not a season of loss but of preparation. It is a time to make room for new life, greater fruitfulness, and beauty yet to be seen.

Pruning can feel unsettling, even painful, yet the tree does not resist—it simply rests, yielding to the Gardener’s care. So it is with us.

In our winters, we are called to rest—deeply rooted, chosen, and cherished. We do not need to prune ourselves, just as we do not shape our seasons. We remain God’s planted prize, standing firm and trusting in His wisdom and love as He prunes to prepare us for what lies ahead. 

Every cut, every season of stillness, every unseen root stretching deeper is part of His perfect care. For we are His perennials—planted, nurtured, and prepared to bear fruit in His perfect time.

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.   John 15:1-2

Just as pruning is necessary for a tree to thrive, God lovingly prunes us—removing what hinders our growth so we can bear more fruit in Him.

Rachael Jones, Locavore Farm