It's really hard to becoming something when you're already something else.
This is the thought I awoke with as I asked God what to write about today. "What are you doing in my life right now?" I asked. "Stripping," was the thought that returned. "So true," I responded in my mind.
I'm in a process of stripping, sometimes intentionally and sometimes I watch as God takes things away that I no longer need. It's happening in all areas of my life: relationships; old patterns; lifestyle choices. It doesn't feel like a change or a transformation. I literally feel like he's sloughing off dead weight.
So often in life we take on things that don't serve us well. More precisely, we pick up things - relationships, activities, commitments, ideas - that don't serve Him, not just well, but at all. Perhaps we intend to simply pick up things for a while, perhaps we don't even mean to pick them up at all. Eventually we not only wear them, we become them. They seep into our identity, our fiber, our skin. And we wonder why we feel so heavy at times, why life weighs down on us to the point of exhaustion, or worse, depression.
The picture that came with the words this morning was that of a rose. To keep a rose healthy so that it can keep blooming, you have to strip it. Take off the dead weight of blooms that have outstayed their usefulness in order to make room for new growth. What do you need to "dead head" in your life today? I'm clear about some things and still wondering about others. I know that it will be interesting to see where this season leads. I look forward to a lighter way of life.
I'm linking up with Soli Deo Gloria today - check them out!
