Remember
yesterday, when your home was on fire and you got to save five items? That
means you left a lot of stuff behind. What are the things you wish you could
have taken, but had to leave behind?
Honestly, I
had trouble coming up with 5 things to grab, and you could probably consider it
a little more than 5 things anyway since a couple of mine were “collections of
things,” so I would have to say there’s nothing else I would take than the
things I wrote about yesterday.
Living on a
military base in government housing overseas for 17 years, I didn’t have much
in my home that wasn’t government owed. So, when we returned to the states
(almost a full year ago now), the only furniture that came with us was a
rosewood chest and a rosewood tea cart purchased while on the island. We bought a queen mattress set a couple of
years previously, but we couldn’t take it with us because it would make us way
overweight with our shipment, which would cost us a lot of extra money we
weren’t willing to pay. Arriving on WA
soil, we didn’t even have a bed to our name.
Thankfully, my husband had one double mattress set in his storage, and
we were lucky enough to receive (from some very generous family friends) a
single bed for our son, 2 couches and a TV for our living room. Besides our personal stuff, that’s really all
we had in our apartment the first six months.
We bought a dining room table within the first month, and of course,
once our shipment arrived, we had our kitchen cookware and kitchen essentials
and our clothes/shoes, but that’s it. And once again, just like when I moved to
the Marshall Islands initially and once again when I downsized and moved into a
bachelor’s quarters (the size of a small, one-person dorm room) for 3 years
after my divorce, I realized during those initial months in the apartment, I
really didn’t need that much to live comfortably. I have way more stuff than I need now. Most
of us do.
I remember a
time when all that stuff was really important to me. One of things from my storage (added post
divorce in 2007-because, as you may remember from my previous post, all my 1997
storage completely disappeared) that was delivered to my parent’s house is
their antique grand piano. Everyone who sees it comments on it. It has a
beautiful inlay pattern, and it’s a rich reddish brown color. It’s over 100 years old, and when my mom had
to move and couldn’t keep it anymore, I asked for it. She graciously said I
could have it, but because I lived overseas, I had to store it. First, it went
to my ex-husband’s parent’s home, and then into storage once I divorced. So,
now it’s back home, but my parents are considering selling it. I understand, and surprisingly, I’m okay with
it. In years past, this would have caused
great stress to me. I spent time in my previous
life looking at homes always with that piano in mind, but I knew once we moved
to WA, that the piano would never be here with us. It’s not practical. It’s a completely sentimental
attachment. I prefer not to leave this
world with a bunch of stuff that only means something to me left behind for my
children to sort though. I prefer for
them to learn the same lessons I have in my life so far.
It’s just
stuff. It doesn’t go with you when you leave this world. It’s not as important as having love and joy
in your life. It’s not more important
than YOU, and YOU, and ALL OF YOU friends and family out there. There was a time I couldn’t have imagined
doing what Jesus’s followers did, which was to leave and/or give away all their
personal belongings to follow Him, but I believe I’m coming to understand it
more and more each day. Not that I don’t
still have too much stuff. I probably always will, but I am not so attached to
it that I can’t let it go if and when I need to, especially as long as I know
that all the people in my life are blessed and safe.
“But
store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not
destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Matthew 6:20
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