Moving is always hard. The physical labor of packing up every single thing you own, every pin, every pen, every piece of paper, and putting it into a container to shift it, to throw it, or somehow or another dispose of it, is tedious and time consuming. But you cannot make the change without going through that work. In order to move forward, you must comb through the past and decide what to keep or discard.
Sometimes moving is a hopeful, uplifting action, predicated by a new job, or buying a new house that better suits your needs at the time. Sometimes, it is done under pressure, because you have a deadline. And sometimes, the move isn't what you wanted at all, but you find yourself in a position of no choices. Financial pressures or health issues, or some other factor, forces you into the change you do not want to make, which makes a hard situation even more difficult, especially if you have children to consider.
But, in truth, change, while often hard, and sometimes even painful, forces growth. By going through everything, we are pushed to consider what is important to us, and what we need to let go of. As we consider the cost, both in labor and financially, of moving each item, we realize what actually matters to us. And when the move is completed, we have generally cast off the things that were simply cluttering up our lives, we have reevaluated what we have kept, and we find a new perspective on it all.
Like moving house, we sometimes have to move from our comfortable place in life to new and unfamiliar ground. We have to sort through the stuff that holds us back and figure out what is important. Whether it is relationships, or work related, or in our faith, we have to change and grow and renew, or we will become stagnant, dragged down by the chaff of life that we no longer value.
I have had to make a very difficult move in the past. I didn't really want to make the change, I was comfortable and set where I was, but I didn't really have the choice. I put off the decision as long as I could, but ultimately, the time came, and I had to leave my house where I lived for so many years and raised my children, and move back to my hometown where I grew up.
It was a difficult decision, filled with emotional baggage, leaving the home where so much of my family history was lived out. As I sorted through the lifetime of belongings, I also sorted through a lifetime of memories, thoughts, feelings, and emotions. I took each one out and tried it on one more time, thought about it in light of my current life, and decided whether to hang on to it or discard it on the trash heap of my past life. Although painful at the time, ultimately I let go of much which had been holding me back from being a happy and more joyful person. And I was much better off for it.
Sometimes people question why God allows hard times for those who love and trust in him. He has complete power to do anything, so why does he allow us the pain and struggle of life's hard moments?
I don't have the complete answer, of course. But I think, like moving, sometimes we have to be forced to evaluate what we have, in order to discard what is holding us back from getting somewhere better. Humans resist change, even when it is good for them. But when you have to go through everything, lock, stock and barrel, the end result may be a better you.
Today, I am grateful for the hard move. Without it, I would not be where I am today, wiser, stronger, and more complete.
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