Here are some random thoughts on moving and how it can teach us about living in community and with ourselves…
So, we are moved out of our apartment. We’ve been packing boxes and getting ready (and stressed) to get our stuff into storage for the next few months. Yesterday some friends came over and we loaded up the truck and drove an hour to put our stuff at a friends place…on the way out there it hit me that it’s because of my stuff that these friends of mine are going all this way to help me out. It’s my baggage that they are moving…
This was a clear picture to me of what community is like. We are all going through life helping each other carry our ‘baggage’…I’m not really a fan of this played out word, but it works…so bear with me!
I saw my friends ache, sweat, and moan carrying our stuff down stairs and into a truck…they do this because they are friends, not to be paid back at a later date and certainly not for the fun of it! When we are in a ‘good’ and life-giving community of people this is a good picture of how we interact with each other…we carry each others burdens, we ache for our friends, we do the hard work of being there when anothers’ burdens seem too much to carry….this is the giving side.
The receiving side is also hard…it made me feel bad that my friends were hurting, aching, and moaning to move the products of an often-over-consumeristic life. It was quite humbling for these people to see the dust bunnies behind furniture, and the sheer amount of needless things we’ve collected over our time here! Nobody complained about a thing…except my big white armoire that I gave to one of friends in the end! Our friends’ willing generosity made me look at my stuff in a new way…I despised how much they had to work on my behalf…and it made me want to live a simpler life…
To me, this is a picture of grace in community…when we get a clear picture of how our faults affect the people around us we take a closer look at our faults. When I saw how my friends willingly carried my burdens, because of love, I wanted to lighten my load…on their behalf. There really is something living in a community where we are close enough to others to let them be hurt by us….and be hurt by others. We learn this way. We all grow in grace and forgiveness this way. When we choose to hide and walk through life alone we, and others, miss out on many lessons God wants to teach us through each other.
Another thought on this is that we often don’t see the excess in our lives until we have to move it…if we stay in the same place, in the same space, doing the same things, we often don’t gain any new perspective on ourselves or life. Moving is a way to be exposed for what you really have…and change in our own life often exposes us for who we really are.
I’m grateful for good friends, who love us enough to move our junk around…both figuratively and literally.
Justin, I often am not sure how to respond to your posts because they impact me so deeply…(and because I ALWAYS respond!). I’m so amazed at the images God gives you through everyday events, though moving should never be an everyday event! But respond, I must, because as one who moved five times in a three year span, I understand the humility and vulnerability that comes with sharing our ‘baggage’ with friends and family. It is the same way Christ would have us expose our ‘dust bunnies’ to each other…so instead of being repelled, we would know more intimately the struggles of those we care about, and then step in through community to help ‘clean up’. I pray, at this time of nomadic wanderings for you, Jen and Maisie, that you will continue to remain open to His teaching through the mundane, or the most sensational, aspects of life (primarily because I benefit from it!
Can’t wait to see you all!!!