December 15, 1992
We have a few more than usual parcels to unwrap this Christmas, maybe over a hundred extra, but they are not all gifts!
No, we did not win a lottery nor do we have a wealthy relative; the parcels are moving cartons. For me, this is relocation number 27, but I am looking forward to it because we are returning home to Alberta.
Some people wonder, “You must have this matter of moving down pat by now?” Well, we can pack up and unpack fairly quickly. It does not take long to get things put away and life back to a normal routine. But lifting boxes and putting things where they belong is not the tough part of moving; it is the mental and emotional adjustment. In fact, researchers say one move requires a normal recovery time of about two years. Multiply that by 27 and it means I’m not old enough to know what it means to be “adjusted!”
Actually, some new orientation is fun, like making new friends and finding new sights to see. This time, we move into a brand new home (built by phone and fax!) and are going to be much closer to our family. All these pluses ease the pain of leaving wonderful friends and familiar conveniences here in Saskatchewan. They will also help us through frustrations like weeks of trying to remember where I put the scissors, stationery, and sugar canister. I’m sure I’ve spent half my life filing!
Just for fun, I did a word search on my computer to see how many times the word “move” is in the Bible. Even though the nation of Israel spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness, their society was a lot less mobile than ours. I found only a few passages that referred to moving in the sense of packing up and going somewhere else to live.
Most of our moves have been connected to my husband’s work — but there is no specific mention in the Bible of moving for that reason. In two cases, people moved because their enemies forced a relocation. In another situation, a Bible family moved because God called them to a new location.
I can relate to some of those but the verse I liked the best was this promise: “I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more; nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them any more, as previously...” (2 Samuel 7:10).
Hope of a final destination helps in adjusting to a mobile lifestyle right now. It also helps to accept it without complaining. God has given my husband wonderful skills and opportunities to use them in his work, and his work requires that we move now and then. Besides, each new location has great benefits; we keep meeting the most incredible people and have made some wonderful friends.
The best of those “move” verses didn’t have to do with moving a household, however it did offer encouragement for the upsets of writing final exams, moving from two houses (one here, one in Fort Saskatchewan) into one house, celebrating Christmas, and still remaining enthusiastic and sane. It says, “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).
While we celebrate the gift of God’s Son, we also celebrate that He has made all 27 moves a growing, purposeful experience.
Merry Christmas!
Showing posts with label preparing to move. Show all posts
Showing posts with label preparing to move. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Friday, October 9, 2015
Planning a Move? ................ Parables 337
September 29, 1992
Keeping our minds focused on the task at hand is not easy these days. Both my husband and I find our thoughts racing from our responsibilities here in Saskatchewan to our move back to Alberta, then to a possible future location overseas beyond that, then to who knows where, before moving into our final residence — our heavenly home. We realize those anticipated moves require thought, careful planning, and considerable perspiration.
The more immediate future involves paring down and sorting out; we have too much stuff. Besides that chore, we are making preparations to be more mobile in the future by building a condominium in Alberta — mostly by telephone, fax machine and the occasional trip up to make sure all is going as hoped. So we are in the unique position of sending our desires ahead of us, anticipating they will be fulfilled when we arrive!
It is the same with the more distant future — which also involves paring down and sorting out. For instance, what good are 110 volt appliances in a country that uses 220? And what about my beloved library? Air freight on books is expensive! Besides that, we have no idea what we will live in... bigger, smaller or what — horrors — it may not have bookshelves! However, we are sending prayers on ahead, anticipating our needs fulfilled when we arrive.
As with most plans, we do realized these may or may not happen but one certainty is the last move mentioned, that final relocation into our heavenly home. Again, there are some definite similarities. For one thing, we have too much stuff here — not one bit of it will go with us. So we are learning not to hold on to possessions too tightly. Jesus says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”
So again we sort and toss, trying to decide which earthly treasures are mere heavenly junk and which may be useful in the short span of life to add “property value” to that heavenly inheritance. Can this book be used to teach another about Christ? Can that piece of clothing better serve someone whose closet is not as stuffed? Tossing it all is wasteful. Keeping it all may be faithless hoarding. God, we pray, help us be good stewards.
Jesus’ words constantly remind us that even the here-and-now goals of Christian living do not have much to do with building a new home or the accumulation of things. Material treasures can rot, be moth-eaten, or stolen. Worse yet, whenever we set our minds on them, our energies are not available to think His thoughts and do His will, which is the real treasure. So God, help us to recognize and toss other junk such as sinful behavior, ungodly attitudes, greedy self-serving, pride in what we have and selfish desire for what we do not have and, for the most part, do not need either.
Obviously, for this final move we are not using a telephone or a fax machine but prayer to our “Builder” for His help in all decisions. Keeping the lines open also involve continual consideration of Jesus words in Luke 12: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Since we are actually citizens of a heavenly country (and only ambassadors here), we need to make sure our hearts are not too wrapped up in either this home, the next one, or the next one.
It is also interesting how plans for a new home in Alberta have helped focus our lives here in Saskatchewan... and plans for a move even farther after that put the new home in perspective... but preparing for life in heaven keeps all of life here from getting out of hand. In the meantime, we just keep paring down and tossing junk until the moving van comes.
Keeping our minds focused on the task at hand is not easy these days. Both my husband and I find our thoughts racing from our responsibilities here in Saskatchewan to our move back to Alberta, then to a possible future location overseas beyond that, then to who knows where, before moving into our final residence — our heavenly home. We realize those anticipated moves require thought, careful planning, and considerable perspiration.
The more immediate future involves paring down and sorting out; we have too much stuff. Besides that chore, we are making preparations to be more mobile in the future by building a condominium in Alberta — mostly by telephone, fax machine and the occasional trip up to make sure all is going as hoped. So we are in the unique position of sending our desires ahead of us, anticipating they will be fulfilled when we arrive!
It is the same with the more distant future — which also involves paring down and sorting out. For instance, what good are 110 volt appliances in a country that uses 220? And what about my beloved library? Air freight on books is expensive! Besides that, we have no idea what we will live in... bigger, smaller or what — horrors — it may not have bookshelves! However, we are sending prayers on ahead, anticipating our needs fulfilled when we arrive.
As with most plans, we do realized these may or may not happen but one certainty is the last move mentioned, that final relocation into our heavenly home. Again, there are some definite similarities. For one thing, we have too much stuff here — not one bit of it will go with us. So we are learning not to hold on to possessions too tightly. Jesus says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”
So again we sort and toss, trying to decide which earthly treasures are mere heavenly junk and which may be useful in the short span of life to add “property value” to that heavenly inheritance. Can this book be used to teach another about Christ? Can that piece of clothing better serve someone whose closet is not as stuffed? Tossing it all is wasteful. Keeping it all may be faithless hoarding. God, we pray, help us be good stewards.
Jesus’ words constantly remind us that even the here-and-now goals of Christian living do not have much to do with building a new home or the accumulation of things. Material treasures can rot, be moth-eaten, or stolen. Worse yet, whenever we set our minds on them, our energies are not available to think His thoughts and do His will, which is the real treasure. So God, help us to recognize and toss other junk such as sinful behavior, ungodly attitudes, greedy self-serving, pride in what we have and selfish desire for what we do not have and, for the most part, do not need either.
Obviously, for this final move we are not using a telephone or a fax machine but prayer to our “Builder” for His help in all decisions. Keeping the lines open also involve continual consideration of Jesus words in Luke 12: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Since we are actually citizens of a heavenly country (and only ambassadors here), we need to make sure our hearts are not too wrapped up in either this home, the next one, or the next one.
It is also interesting how plans for a new home in Alberta have helped focus our lives here in Saskatchewan... and plans for a move even farther after that put the new home in perspective... but preparing for life in heaven keeps all of life here from getting out of hand. In the meantime, we just keep paring down and tossing junk until the moving van comes.
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