 I rarely get pedicures. Not because I don’t like them, but because it takes time and money that I don’t want to spend in this season of life. I’m also very ticklish in my feet. The last time I got a pedicure, I almost kicked the pedicurist by accident.lol While I was away on a work trip, I began to soak my feet. This is something I rarely do. As I sat there and rested, I became aware of the stillness I felt. I hadn’t felt so still and quiet in a long time. I also noticed how soft my skin became, particularly my feet. the skin was so soft that with a simple graze of my hand, the dead skin easily rolled off onto my fingertips. Surprised and excited, I started to think of the times I’ve done my own 'pedicures'. I love painting my nails and going through the steps but I started to ask myself, "what if I soaked my nails before painting them? Would I have an easier time clipping them? Would the nail polish set more effectively? etc… I soon realized that the quality of a pedicure is not in the painting, the clipping, its in what happens before hand that makes the other activities fruitful and full of quality. The parallel became apparent in my life. God has been asking me to come sit, ‘soak’ in his presence, but I look at the time and the cost and try to find a way to keep everything. But that is not conducive to quality time with the lover of my soul. There is a depth that God is inviting me, us, into. But it requires us to take time to ‘soak’. Time to allow the presence and word of God to soften our hearts, quiet our minds so that he can literally wipe away the dead stuff in order to allow the renewing of my minds to take place. In addition, it allows for the pruning of God to be seen through the eyes of eternity. When I feel connected to God, pruning still hurts but the sting does not last as long due to the opportunity to view it through the eyes of Jesus. Proverbs 25:4 Take away the dross from the silver, and the smith has material for a vessel. DROSS: 1metallurgy : the scum or unwanted material that forms on the surface of molten metal 2: waste or foreign matter : impurity Dross surfaces in a purification process that is used in precious metals. Before the heat hits, the dross, impurities, hide within the metal. We all have things that we are aware of, other things we aren’t aware of that keep us from being a pure vessel. We are human. Yet this is one of my favorite passages in scripture, because it gives me hope and can be a profound prayer before the Lord.
My prayer for myself and anyone else that feels the way that I do, would be that we would soak in the presence of God. That we would pay the cost of spending quality time with him. That we would continuously come before God’s presence asking him to make us like him. Asking him to empower us by the power of the Holy Spirit to live a life that is worthy of the gospel. *picture from tripsavvy.com
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