THE PURGE: PROJECT NEXT
The past two years (2019 & 2020) have taught me so many hard, but valuable life lessons. Lessons about God, about myself, about people, about systems, about society, about kingdoms, about Satan. Wisdom is truly the principle thing, but as the scripture continues to say…”get wisdom: and with all thy getting..get understanding”(Proverbs 4:7). I am truly not the same person that i was two short years ago. Quality time spent alone with God has done wonders for me. Those precious, valuable moments and life-changing experiences with Him have transformed my whole psyche and overall spiritual and physical capacity. I have been stretched beyond measure, broken and reformed, purged and pruned. I am new. And as this year of our Lord 2020 comes to an end, i realize God’s purpose behind the principle of purging and pruning.
PURGE /perj/ (v): rid (someone or something) of an unwanted quality, condition, or feeling.
PRUNE /pro͞on/ (v): trim (a tree, shrub, or bush) by cutting away dead or overgrown branches or stems, especially to increase fruitfulness and growth.
Our Heavenly Father is truly a gardener at heart who loves to work with dirt. He creates new and beautiful things from that which we call worthless. However, dirt will remain dead unless He gives life to it. Likewise, a tree cannot grow unless it receives His nourishment. By now you should know where i’m going with this..
How many dead things are connected to you that He no longer gives life to? How many lifeless relationships are you holding on to that He is no longer sustaining? And who is actually sustaining them? What makes them profitable or unprofitable? Perhaps it’s time to sit down and consider these things. Have you recalibrated your life lately?
You see God knows that growth is not possible without purging and pruning. But sometimes we as humans just don’t get it. Earlier this week i purged my entire closet and wardrobe. I needed to declutter my space (both physical and mental), so i threw out everything that i had either outgrown or was no longer profitable. I even threw out all the little things that could no longer add benefit or value to my life. There comes a time in everyone’s life (near the end of the year or not) that you MUST purge and prune away all the unnecessary, useless things out of your life..because if you don’t and you choose to allow those dead things to remain on your tree, they will begin to negatively affect the rest of the your life. The living cannot grow while still connected to the dead. A bird cannot fly while entangled with something on the ground. Dead things must be cut off in order for new things to grow.
You know the funny thing about the human mind is that several days after purging my closet, i found myself still thinking that those things were in there. When i opened the door, i was actually shocked to find that the old things were gone. They still somehow occupied space in my mind for a while, even though they were no longer there. What am i saying? After purging and pruning dead things and people from your life, you must mentally delete them and focus your mind on embracing the new things that God has for you. Because if you don’t, you will still subconsciously think that those old, dead things are still there…and as a man thinketh, so is he. Meaning you will still be mentally attached to them unless you renew your mind.
By the way, purging and pruning doesn’t mean you stopped loving any of those things or people. It simply means that it was time to release them in order to produce and grow. In doing so, you allow them to grow as well. Some things can even be re-purposed or find a new home. People (and things) come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Sometimes you must be willing to let them go in order to find out which one applies. And if they were truly meant to remain in your life..then let God be the one to lead them back to you.
I truly hope this helps someone to embrace a whole new beginning in 2021. Happy New Year.
What’s your Project Next?
Shellie xo
