Big changes are afoot in the house of J and H at the moment.  J will begin a new job on Monday.  This has been a long prayed-for opportunity and we definitely see God’s hand in the process.  It will put the two of us on a much more similar schedule, something we haven’t experienced for about 5 years, and it will give J room to grow his skills in a slightly new direction.  Amidst all the positives, there is also another significant change.  The job is in another town, one much closer to where I currently work.  So, the decision is to either carpool and share a total daily commute of an hour each way, or relocate.

Our current plan is to carpool for now, and work directly towards moving as soon as we can.  That, of course, depends on the whims of the housing market, but in our corner of the country it’s not as grim as it’s been in other places, so we’re putting it in God’s hands and aiming for a reasonable asking price, a savvy realtor, and a quick sale.  There are a handful of DIY projects we’d like to finish before we list it, and then there’s the daunting prospect of maybe having to pack everything up.  I. Hate. Moving.  The year J and I got married, I moved three times and when the last box came into our current house, I informed him that I didn’t intend to move again in my lifetime.  Ha!  Why do we make such declarations?  Seven years later, we’ve each changed jobs, we’ve grown as a couple, and we have a far better sense of who we are and a more specific vision of our “dream home.”

One of the reasons I hate moving so much is that it forces you to touch every single item you own, and in truth, that means it forces you to acknowledge how much useless junk that includes.  Despite my best intentions of scaling down from the Year of Three Moves, complacency easily sets in when we stay in one place for awhile, and I am freshly aware of the Stuff that surrounds us.  It’s not that big of a stretch; I’ve purged unhealthy choices from my eating, we’re working towards purging debt from our lives (I truly believe my commute is somehow a little shorter knowing we paid off my car last week!), and now the spotlight has landed on possessions.  This was further emphasized in Bible study this week, when we were asked to take a good look at the reasons why we’re keeping the possessions we have.  Do we get true meaning from them, do they genuinely enhance the quality of life (ours or others), or do they provide a one-time validation but now contribute nothing but clutter?

I heard a great piece of advice on organizing once, from a professional on one of those “come help me deal with my clutter” shows.  He said “if you’re keeping something stashed away, simply because you think you should, you’re not honoring that item.”  He was talking most specifically about those sorts of objects we inherit but don’t love, or receive as somewhat misdirected gifts, but I think it applies pretty well to everything.  With that running through my mind, we decided that if we were even considering moving, we wanted to travel as lightly as possible, so this weekend we tackled the attic.  Our true span-the-house attic is reached by ceiling access and thank goodness we don’t store anything at all up there.  Our useable attic is walk-in unfinished space at the back of the upstairs, which is actually dangerous, because it’s just so easy to open the door and shove something in there to deal with later.  Especially when sudden company is expected, I am sorry to say.  We purged, tossed, sorted, and assessed, and I am pleased to say the attic is now half as full as it once was, and all that’s left are seasonal decorations, empty suitcases, and 1 bin of winter clothes per human member of the household.  Goodwill got a significant donation, the trash pickup will be a little weightier this week, and just a small percentage of items were put back into current use.

It feels so good to have that job done that I find I keep sticking my head in and flipping on the light just to admire all the empty floor space.  There’s also a sense of mental and spiritual relief.  Bit by bit, I’m coming into better alignment with the lighter, leaner life I’ve been craving.  I certainly don’t mean that it’s wrong to have a lot of possessions, which, by the way, is possible to do whether you have a lot of money or not.  When James condemned useless wealth in chapter 5, he says “You have hoarded wealth in the last days” and “The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you.”  I don’t believe he was saying having money, or things, or both is evil.  However, it’s pretty clear that if we are holding on to wealth or things with our own tight grip, because we fear what will become of us without it, we are expending an awful lot of effort and time for very little return.  When the Lord is our strength and our shield, we can serve Him with open hands.  We freely give (we even PLAN to give) of our time, money, and possessions when He directs us to.  We develop an attitude of seeking opportunities to share what we have with others.  We save responsibly for the future so we can continue to give while we meet our earthly obligations.

Since I shared an old hymn last time, I’ll mention one more here.  One of the things I saved out of the attic purge was a small stack of decorating magazines.  I love looking through them; I celebrate a lovely, inviting home and I enjoy my books and mementos from my mother’s country and those cherished odds and ends of my grandparents.  I love the fun of buying the perfect finishing touch for a room (and getting it at way discounted prices).  But every once in awhile, I find myself singing the words “My Heavenly home is bright and fair, I feel like traveling on.”  I want to live now in such a way that I am remembered more for my love and compassion than the contents of my living room, and I want to run freely into His arms, where my true value will be celebrated as a child of the King.  Lightness, indeed!