Spire March 2014

Vol. 160 • No. 3 • March 1, 2014 StLukesMethodist.org | 713-622-5710 ‘Tis the Season by Dr. Tom Pace, Senior Pastor It is late winter, time for that marvelous annual southern ritual: crepe myrtle pruning. I watch my neighbor cut his crepe myrtle down to... More

Vol. 160 • No. 3 • March 1, 2014 StLukesMethodist.org | 713-622-5710 ‘Tis the Season by Dr. Tom Pace, Senior Pastor It is late winter, time for that marvelous annual southern ritual: crepe myrtle pruning. I watch my neighbor cut his crepe myrtle down to ugly gnarly sticks jutting out of the earth. I am told that they will grow back stronger and healthier and more beautiful. While I know that there is a great debate about how and how much to prune crepe myrtles (I’ve heard it called crepe murder), there is no debate at all that it is a good thing to prune them. It may be painful, and counterintuitive to remove this seemingly healthy growth, but it is an essential discipline if you want them to flower even more beautifully next year. Jesus tells us the same thing: “He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit” (John 15:2). Sometimes, it seems like we are pruning away the very things that make us tick—the habits and Less