Job 15:33

Their unripe fruit will be stripped, like the vine,

   Their blossom petals shed, like the olive tree.

 

I feel as though I have finally caught up on my sleep. Maybe the next two days will go accordingly. Now I am trying to get some things accomplished before other obligations pop up. My question for days like these are: Whether I really need this much sleep from a physical deficiency or is it all mental?

‘Stripped’ was also ‘shake off’, ‘drop’, or ‘shed’. ‘Fruit’ was also ‘grapes’.

‘Blossom petals’ was ‘blossoms’, ‘flower’, and ‘bloom’. ‘Shed’ was also ‘cast off’.

I am not a botanist, so I have no real background for the stripping of unripe fruit. Like many times in this effort, I would simply chalk it up to the Holy Spirit guiding me. My mind ran off with it and assumes it would be something like whatever happens to grapes that are not picked during the harvest. Well beyond my knowledge base, but based on the pruning and such that the New Testament talks about with the vine dresser, I can assume that they strip off the old fruit in the process.

In my office, I have the bulk of my collection of paintings. As a kid, I always wanted a library full of books and a house with walls covered by original paintings. After having given away over 200 books the other week, I am down to a small (for me) number of books, made up mostly of my Tom Clancy collection that is not getting bigger, my John Grisham collection that is still growing, my science fiction that I might read again, books by the author I am currently reading, and of course my collection of school year books and Bible study material. I do also have an assortment of Bibles that I ought to be giving away one by one, but I have yet to start on that. The paintings I have range from my kids efforts to hand me downs (so to speak) to a few I liked enough to buy. None are valuable, I am sure. My favorite painter of all time is Thomas Moran, but his work is all of the too valuable for my sort.

It seems my rambling has gotten me to the point where I am understanding the pull on me to get rid of more. Beyond the paintings and books, there are camping items, chairs, toys, computers, baseball cards, and work supplies that I will never use all around this room. The hoarding tendency in me wants to keep it all just in case. I still have two basketballs in great condition although I know I will never be able to play again, and no one else in my family will either. Even assuming I live long enough to have grandkids, they are unlikely to use them.

But there are also things about me that I might need to give up. The desire to feel rested. The desire to have a distraction. The desire to be alone sometimes. The desire to use stuff I have. The Bible calls us to die to ourselves, but I struggle with how to be the tool God wants me to be if I am not somehow still myself. He has given me abilities, experiences, and spiritual gifts, but some of this has grown out of me being me. I pray I can simply listen each day for the small next step and get over the need for a future.

 

Written 2/18/25, Posted 6/23/25, Job 373