I hear "Closing Time" in my head as I get out the bags and boxes and begin to sift through my life. I long ago stopped thinking of moving as a time to dread, perhaps I've done it too much. We came here with three duffle bags...all and everything we should truly need for the next year. But, we've accumulated much more in the last 6 months. I took out the 3 duffle bags this morning and began to look at what we had.
This used to scare me. I remember when I went to Argentina I stuffed 4 dufflebags plumb full of clothes, books, miscilaneous items that I just knew I wouldn't be able to do without...and they were all just for me. Perhaps half or more of what I took to that country got left behind. I didn't need them and didn't have room for them when we left. And you know what? When I left those things behind I felt no sense of loss, only liberation. I wouldn't have to carry them around or keep track of them anymore for they were no longer mine.
Moving. Packing. Throwing away junk. Preparing for a journey. I am doing it all and I hear in my head the words to that song "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."
Those endings come with sadness, they always do. When you leave behind friends in another country you know there will be little chance of returning and seeing them again until you meet them in Heaven. We all say, "We'll see you again. We'll visit." But the words are said to ease the pain of parting. These are all people who held by baby when she was little and got to watch her take some of her first steps as she learned to walk. These are people who filled our lives with conversation and friendship even though we were foreign.
I know I will make new friends and with God's strength I look toward new beginnings with interest and excitement. I begin to fill up the three duffle bags, leaving behind the items that aren't necessary, trusting that along the way our needs will be provided for. God always does that, you see, and the more I trust in him and stop my worried planning, I find contentment and peace.
So, when the last zipper is closed and the bags placed by the door, I say a little prayer for me, for my little family, and I also ask God to be with all the other people who preparing for their own new beginnings. Hoping that we all will be given wisdom to know what should be left behind and have faith in the things that He will provide.
This used to scare me. I remember when I went to Argentina I stuffed 4 dufflebags plumb full of clothes, books, miscilaneous items that I just knew I wouldn't be able to do without...and they were all just for me. Perhaps half or more of what I took to that country got left behind. I didn't need them and didn't have room for them when we left. And you know what? When I left those things behind I felt no sense of loss, only liberation. I wouldn't have to carry them around or keep track of them anymore for they were no longer mine.
Moving. Packing. Throwing away junk. Preparing for a journey. I am doing it all and I hear in my head the words to that song "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."
Those endings come with sadness, they always do. When you leave behind friends in another country you know there will be little chance of returning and seeing them again until you meet them in Heaven. We all say, "We'll see you again. We'll visit." But the words are said to ease the pain of parting. These are all people who held by baby when she was little and got to watch her take some of her first steps as she learned to walk. These are people who filled our lives with conversation and friendship even though we were foreign.
I know I will make new friends and with God's strength I look toward new beginnings with interest and excitement. I begin to fill up the three duffle bags, leaving behind the items that aren't necessary, trusting that along the way our needs will be provided for. God always does that, you see, and the more I trust in him and stop my worried planning, I find contentment and peace.
So, when the last zipper is closed and the bags placed by the door, I say a little prayer for me, for my little family, and I also ask God to be with all the other people who preparing for their own new beginnings. Hoping that we all will be given wisdom to know what should be left behind and have faith in the things that He will provide.
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