The Stress of Moving

Moving to a new place can be exciting and usually when we move, it is all for the better.  It will mean either a bigger place or a smaller more manageable one, a new neighbourhood, possibly new friends, and even a new way of life.  What could be wrong with that?  But, if you have ever moved, you will know the stress involved in such an undertaking.  Although I pride myself in being pretty organized, some days I can’t even find the most elementary of things, like my glasses or my house keys.  So the thought of packing every single thing I own, moving it to a different place, and then unpacking it and try to find a place for everything gives me enough reason to never want to move!  Moving is exhausting. But sometimes it can’t be helped.

For me, gone are the carefree days of packing a big suitcase and a couple of bags and tossing them into the back seat of a small car.   Because I do so many different things, in addition to my regular furniture, appliances, clothes, etc., now I would need moving vans.  Even so, judging by the many big houses (and over-crowded smaller ones) I’ve seen, I know I’m not the only one.  Many of us accumulate a lot of things over the course of time, and if we don’t regularly get rid of them, if we ever have to move we’ll have to do it all at that time. This will add stress upon stress to the move.  And good luck trying to find people help you sort through your stuff.  Even your kids won’t want to pitch in, and if they do, they might start getting rid of things you still want to keep (but maybe that’s a good thing).

    

It is wise to go through your things on a regular basis so that things don’t get out of hand when or if you do have to move.  It may take some time each time, but by the time you move, you will have saved yourself a lot of unnecessary grief.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog, when you’re going through your things, tackle only one project at a time, even down to doing one drawer at a time.  A few years ago, I went through all my things at our cottage where we once lived full time.  I felt so overwhelmed about making so many decisions that I prayed about each thing in question.  I had a bag for garbage and a bag for give-away.  By praying, I felt a peace about what I was getting rid of, and felt an assurance that I would never miss or need any of those items.  I may have missed an item or two later on, but truthfully, I never needed it in the first place.  By the time I was done, I literally filled an 8 by 10 storage shed with furniture and our things, filling bags and boxes with material, bedding, clothing, books and countless other things that we had no more use for.  Most of it was “some day” stuff – “some day” we’ll use this.  But that “some day” never came, so we happily got rid of it by donating it to a worthy cause.  What a great feeling of relief we experienced after freeing up some extra room both inside and out!

Deciding what to do with things is stressful enough because you don’t always know if you will need that item any more.  Have you ever sold an item at a garage sale and then forgot and a few months later started looking for that item?  It’s happened to me many times, but still, I do not regret getting rid of anything.  I appreciate the extra space more than collecting more and more things.  But many items or things just sit or remain stored away.  If you have forgotten that you even have it, are you really going to use it again?  I’m not talking about valuable things like heirloom jewelry or family history or special keepsakes.  I’m talking about nick-knacks, clothing, bedding, books, movies, and even old radios and TVs.  Some things are only for a season, like kid’s toys and clothing.  We must move on from childhood or other stages in life, and be open to new ventures.

Moving is not just a physical thing.  It is an emotional one as well.  Many times when we move, we are really moving on and we will not always need the things that served us well in our old place of residence.  So the stress that comes with moving is often related to emotional ties related to the good memories we had of living there or being there, as well as to the material things that bring back fond memories.  When my in-laws sold their house to move to a condo, it seemed that a lot of memories were still there, and for me, were still very much alive.  It was where my husband and I, to their astonishment, announced our engagement to be married, since they thought we were just good friends.  It is where we enjoyed many good meals and every winter for a few years, we house-sat while they went away on a winter cruise.  Even more difficult was when my parents sold their house and moved to an apartment downtown.  Now we would not be able to all stay together as a family because there were too many of us.  But still, we were so happy for my parents that now they didn’t have to worry about yard work.  They could go next door for coffee without having to start up the car on cold winter mornings.  Everything was close by and in walking distance.

Moving costs; and I don’t mean just financial.  When you move you have to give up a way of life, but you can’t move on to a better way of life without saying goodbye to the old.  Almost every move I ever made was for the better.  I wouldn’t likely go back to any of the places I once lived because I like where I am right now.  In so many ways, our spiritual life is like that.  In order to have a new life, you have to give up the old life.  When Jesus called the disciples, they left all to follow Him.  Jesus said that if we are to be His disciples we must count the cost:

Luke 14:26  "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:27  And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:33  … any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. NIV

When I received Jesus as my Lord and personal Savior, I can honestly say that I would never trade this new life for the old one.  Nothing could persuade me to go back for even a second, for that life is one that was not worth saving in comparison to the full, rich and meaningful life I live now because of Jesus and His boundless love for me. I know many other people would say exactly the same thing, and songs have been written about it.  Jesus is really the answer for everything in life, whether we are moving to a new location, or have decided we want a better, freer and more meaningful life. 

            

Stress & Natural Disasters

Is it just me or are there more natural disasters than ever before?  This year, I talked to people who lost their beloved cottages and property because of flood waters.  I witnessed part of a beautiful town’s park completely devastated by flood waters.  And then recently, it became personal.  I seemed to experience one small natural disaster after another (the week before was the car accident).  One day it rained from early morning to night and our relatively new sliding balcony door (which was not installed properly by the contracting company) leaked so much, we had to put a pail under it to catch the running drips.  Traffic lights were out all over the city and it seemed to take forever to get anywhere.  Then the next day I woke up to no power, and I had to do without power for about 12 hours.  If you’ve ever been without power for that length of time or longer, let me tell you, you start to think creatively.  Do you know how many things I utterly and completely take for granted, not to mention need, that are plugged in?

To begin with, I couldn’t have my perfect cup of coffee first thing in the morning.  So right off the bat, my day did not start well.  I know that may sound trite and petty, but I so look forward to that first cup of coffee to start my day! Then, I had no music.  I listen to easy-listening and sometimes classical music almost every day because it is soothing and helps me be creative.  Similarly, I make sure that every section of my home has a scented plug-in so each room has a lingering scent, which also will affect a person’s mood.  Suffice it to say, there were no lingering scents.  Okay, I can live without that.  But no computer?  How can I get my work done?  I had a long list of emails to get to, plus writing my blog, and working on scads of other computer-related projects.  I couldn’t even use the phone since it’s a radio phone.  All I had was my cell phone and so I was able to call out and also receive my email, and I could text if I had to.  Still, it was very disconcerting!  As morning turned into noon and then afternoon, and still, no power, it became a day of, “what ifs,” mainly, “What do we do if the power doesn’t come back on?”

By mid-afternoon I peeked into the fridge and freezer to see how much meat was unthawing.  We rarely buy meat, but one of the major grocery stores had all their meat on sale, and besides we had just bought a new barbecue for camping.  So we thought we’d invest in meat and try out the barbecue while our fall days are still warm.  If the power was not going to go on, I thought I’d go to the nearest grocery store and buy chunks of ice and put them in the freezer.  But so many things went through my mind that day that it really caused me to re-think this thing called electricity, and start to think of having some kind of emergency back-up system.  Investing in a generator came to mind earlier in the day, and I’ve also seriously considered solar energy (it’s free after you invest in the panels).  In fact, I saw a program about it on the Weather Channel, and they interviewed someone who ran his entire household and farm business using solar energy.  I was immediately interested and thought it was brilliant, as long as you don’t have a long cloudy spell.  

Having no lights felt strange, so I had to pull out all the flashlights I could find and then found a stash of candle holders and tea-lights.  I was prepared in advance for evening.  Having little else to do, I went out for awhile to do some shopping.  The really interesting event happened when I walked to a nearby grocery store.  I was just heading towards the clothing section (this was one of those super large grocery/department stores) when I heard a loud BANG and all the power went out and everyone gasped!  They had line-ups of people waiting to pay for their groceries.  The look of shock on everyone’s face was priceless!  Employees suddenly came out of nowhere and were running all over the place (funny how they aren’t around when you need help in finding something).  I had nothing in my hand to buy, so I ran to the nearest exit, and made it out seconds before they forced the door closed and wouldn’t let anyone in or out. 

Throughout the whole ordeal, one word kept coming to my mind, and that was “loss.”  In any natural disaster there is usually a loss of some kind.  It is not always as minor as mine; people lose their homes, vehicles, and properties.  Of course, it goes without saying that the greatest loss is life itself, and this happens all over the world where countless lives are lost due to hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, mud slides, avalanches, fires, and so on!  But even when there is no loss of life, losing what is familiar to us can completely change our way of life, even if only for a day.  It forces us to re-think about things, and especially the things we take for granted.  For me, I discovered by late in the day that I could probably learn to live without electricity.  I had done so for the better part of the day.  And a big plus is that I had the use of my cell phone and my car.  And I did enjoy what we barbecued for supper, so I could get pretty used to that, and if necessary, use it to boil water to make coffee in a coffee press.  I’m not sure about the writing, although I could still write with a pen and sheets of paper.  I could light scented candles for scent.  And at night, I could still use flashlights and bigger candles for light, and perhaps throw a log or two in the fireplace for warmth, ambiance and more light. 

Through this experience I thought more about our dependency on things, and that many times we forget to or fail to turn to God as our complete source of all that we need.  We may have all the conveniences, live in a nice house, and have enough money to live a good lifestyle, but what happens if we lose some or all of it? Are we too dependent on the things of this world and even mistakenly putting our trust in them?  Sometimes we think that if we just had more money it will give us what we need, but this is only superficial and will never be enough.  When my power went out, I may have had some money, but no amount of money was enough to turn the power on.  An outside source (hydro) was the only one that could do this and even if I had all the money in the world to pay them, they still couldn’t have helped me because first they had to find the source of the problem.  People without God do not know the source of their problem, so they turn to other things.  In our spiritual lives (which affects all of the rest of life), God already knows the source of our problem and He has a solution.  Our problem is that we are sinners and sin leads to death.  The solution is Jesus Christ; the only One who can give us life, even eternal life.  So we need Jesus, our only true source of life.

John 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

John 1:9  That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

John 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:  KJV

Perhaps today you are experiencing your own personal natural disaster.  You are trying to put your life back together, but you haven’t found a way that truly works.  If you would like to receive the life that Jesus gives, and turn to Him for your true source of all that you need, please go to our web page where you will find The Way of Salvation.  And if you are reading this and you already know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, then may God bless you as you let that real powerful light shine wherever you go.