Get Moving

Been moving since the first of February.  It's a pain to move.  Incredible to me how much stuff I crammed into a hole and forgot about.  I once heard that every five years you should rent a U-Haul truck - one truck - and load everything up like you're going to move.  Whatever doesn't fit in the truck gets hauled off or sold.  Then you clean and unpack back into your same house.  Probably some good advice.

Packing is kind of fun, at least at first.  We were doing an excellent job starting out.  All the boxes were organized, marked and the contents were specific to the space/room they were going to.  But near the end of the process stuff just got thrown in, didn't matter where it came from or where it was going, just get it in a box so it can be moved.  Now we have stacks of things that have to be sorted through before they can be put away.

And once we got the majority of the "stuff" out of the house, furniture and trinkets that take up so much space, we realized how incredibly dirty things had gotten.  You don't notice it when there is life going on and stuff in the way, but when everything is gone and the house is bare the dust, cobwebs and dog hair really stand out.

Seems to me that life is a lot like the moving process.  It's sure easy to get comfortable in your situation, no matter how bad it is, it's still home.  You know where stuff is, the creaks and slants.  Which window to go through if you lock yourself out.  You know where to hide and where to find.  Life may be full of pain, slavery to addictions, abuse, even self-inflicted - but you're comfortable with it, it's home.

It's even kind of fun to make changes, or talk about making changes.  New Year's resolutions, get you motivated for a few weeks.  You pack up all the stuff you want to get rid of and all the stuff you want to keep and mark it plainly.  But if you keep digging, keep packing, to get your whole life cleaned up there's a point where it gets messy.  You even reach a point where you have to decide if it's worth it.  Packing your old hangups and hurts and pains into a new place isn't gonna help you at all.

You get down to it and you quickly realize that your life was a lot messier then you thought it was.  With all the other stuff out of the way the dirt really stands out.  We have a way of focusing on kids, spouse, job, honey-do lists, cars, sports events, television, friends.  We fill our lives with so much that it gets easy to look over the junk, the dirt, the sin.  We can even begin to blame our hangups on the "other stuff" in our lives.  If only the kids were older.  If only my spouse was nicer or did more to help.  If only my job paid more... then I wouldn't need to (fill in the blank).

What needs to move in your life?  What have you been hiding that needs to come out in the open?  Moving is painful at times but if you stay where you are you'll continue in the same patterns, same sins, same problems.  You need to clean your life out and move on.  Pack up the stuff, clean out the junk, sweep and make a new start.

Ephesians 4:30-32
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.