Apparently moving house is rated as being one of the top stressors in life according to some researches.I do not know how accurate these researches are but if there is any morsel of truth in the findings then my journey would no doubt bust the stress-o-meter.In the last ten years I've lived in four countries,three continents,eight towns or suburbs(we wont even count the houses!) and still managed to find space somewhere within all that moving about to give birth twice. (Just in case you are wondering.....no, Im not an army wife).In a few days time I'll be embarking on yet another voyage which will see me transported thousands of miles to another country in a different continent.
Each move, I must admit, always comes along with its own sets of challenges. One of these involves trying to determine what to take , what to throw out, what to give away and what to sell. Inevitably ,as we settle and build homes there is a tendency to accumulate 'stuff'(some more than others!).In the past few weeks as we have been gearing ourselves for the move, we were faced with this challenge of deciding which categories to allocate the different items we had accumulated. It felt a bit like playing a kind of 'X-factor' with our belongings. At the beginning of this exercise there was quite a dilemma as almost everything seemed to be crying out to stay with us. Yes, the urge to hold on to things was so great....some of course were of sentimental value but it was quite surprising to me how unknowingly we can become so attached to stuff. Its almost as if the stuff possesses us and not vice versa. It is true that whenever you cannot let go of something, it has a hold over you.This realisation immediately made me change my stance and I began to mercilessly cull through the stuff. There are times when you will need to shed off what you have accumulated in order to make room for the life ahead of you. Similarly there will be times in life when you will need to let go of 'some stuff' within .....mindsets and attitudes that have served their purpose in one season of your life but will otherwise become excess baggage in the next phase of your journey (and if you have ever travelled by plane you will know how costly those extra kilograms over and above what you've been allocated can be.)What emotions have you packed into the suitcase of your life that really are now just adding unneccessary weight that will keep pulling you backwards?
Interestingly, once we had let go of the big items there was another realisation....its those small bits and bobs that are actually more cumbersome to work through (you know those containers of elastic bands, pins, lipsticks etcetera etcetera). These bits and bobs actually take up more time to sort through as opposed to the straight forward big items. What small things are eating up your space and calling for more attention than they are worth? I decided to just throw them all out instead of spending hours sorting through ten cent pins and lipsticks from years gone by. Even in relationships there are those 'little emotional containers' where all the unresolved bits and bobs go into for 'sorting out' later on (and all the men say 'amen')! Let them go, they will take up too much of your valuable time.
To be quite honest, these seasons of purging and decluttering because of the impending journeys have always been a real eye opener for me. As I write this, Im sitting in an almost empty house. The packers came in this morning, packed away and took with them what we decided to keep for freighting to our next destination.There is however a price to pay when taking stuff to a different country.In the same way, there is a price to pay when you hold on to emotional baggage. Some emotions are worth holding onto whilst others are just not worth it.Why would you pay four hundred dollars to freight a one dollar item?
How much do we actually need in terms of material possessions? With not much left in this house I do feel a certain kind of freedom. I love the fact that I've emptied my space and while standing in this gap between my current abode and the next season of my life I cant help but feel that the things that we cannot see can sometimes be more fulfilling than the 'things' or 'stuff' we surround ourselves with. I've felt the warmth and love of friends and family as we've been preparing to part. There have been a lot of priceless moments in the past weeks as we've shared simple meals of pizza, sausage sizzles , fish and chips ...while sitting on the floor and enjoying heartfelt laughter and just being together.In fact,a very dear friend on one occasion ,probably because she had seen the 'chaos' I was in while packing, invited us for leftovers and that meal of leftovers was absolutely divine! I wonder how often we've missed the opportunities to nourish others with a good meal because all we had for that day were leftovers? These precious moments are totally independent of what 'things' we have.
So, as I bid Australia goodbye for now, I can confidently say Im looking forward to what lies ahead for I know that The Lord who is with us has also already gone before us and I look forward to being filled with more of His love ,joy and happiness. I do not know what's in store but I trust Him who is taking us there.
May you blossom and be fruitful where you are planted.....
Love and blessings
