Jesus uses the picture of a vine and it's branches to describe Christian growth to his disciples. Jesus teaches that he is the vine, the source of life and power for the Christian, and we are the branches. Just as a gardener prunes a branch, enabling it to bear fruit, so God does ?pruning? in our lives so that we can bear spiritual fruit. We learn that our focus should not be on fruit bearing (producing results), but on staying deeply connected to Christ.