How is God taking away the dross in your life? 516 - 6 - 6

Proverbs 25:4, "Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer."

Years ago I bought scrap silver from a friend who was also silversmith. To this collection I added bits and pieces of broken jewelry I’d purchased over the years. A few years ago I had it melded down and molded into a dozen or more small ingots, some of which I sold and some I still have as an investment.

This was a lesson in removing dross from my life as well as the dross that was skimmed off the silver. The silver scrap was like razor blades and the broken jewelry had limited value and took up storage space. Converting the razor-sharp scrap silver and bulky scrap jewelry into ingots resulted in a sellable and smaller dross free final product.

A year ago I had an enormous amount of deoss in my life. I owned a mobile home in Quartzsite, Arizona with two storage sheds and shelves full of odds and ends on a covered patio. I also owned a travel trailer in an owner campground in Michigan, complete with a 30’ x 10’ enclosed porch and a storage shed both full of stuff. Then there is my 5 acres of high desert dirt in North Eastern Arizona where I had a storage shed, two travel trailers for living and a 33 foot trailer used for storage. Add to that I had an RV filled with inventory for sale on my e-commerce carts; jewelry and strands of gemstone beads.

I would literally wake up at night in a near cold sweat wondering what I would ever do with all of this stuff. I felt that my life was similar to that of "The Islanders – A Fable" by Idries Shah.

For years God laid it on my heart to simplify my life. First I sold my Michigan trailer, etc. to my niece and nephew at a much reduced price. As I didn't even return to Michigan my niece held a yard sale and we split the proceeds. Last fall I spent five weeks on my high desert dirt in North Eastern Arizona arranging for the removal of the storage trailer and generally getting the property ready as a summer getaway from the extreme heat of Quartzsite. Upon my return to Quartzsite I sold my trailer also at a much reduced price and gave the new owners most of the stuff in it. I now live in my RV and put my more valuable inventory in paid storage.

Although on the surface, I lost considerable potential value by selling the above at much reduced prices and/or giving things away the relief I've experienced is priceless. I have far less stress/ dross in my life and can devote even more time to the study of the Word.

Dross

H5509

סוּג    סיגo

sîyg  sûg

seeg, soog

From H5472 in the sense of refuse; scoria: - dross.