This week Darrell and I said goodbye to our friends, our church, and our beautiful apartment overlooking the ocean in Florida. We sold all of our furniture, sent a carload of things with Darrell’s parents (who came down to help us, thank goodness) and packed everything else in the trunk and backseat of our Toyota Corolla.
This is not the first time I’ve done this, but there was a moment, as we were loading things into our car, where it became apparent not everything was going to fit, and it sure felt like it was our first time.
I felt like such a rookie —
Scrambling at the last minute to give things away, donate them or (my least favorite) put them in the dumpster. I felt like such a beginner, mourning the loss of my “things.” As we traveled down the elevator with a hotel cart full of stuff that I wasn’t sure would fit in our car, I thought to myself:
Which of these things are most important to me?
If I could only keep a handful of these things, which would I choose?
It’s good, I think, to put ourselves in situations where we’re forced to think about our priorities like this, even with stupid things like clothes and bed linens. It reminds us to appreciate the things we have, and to see them as a gift. It reminds us to hold things loosely, when they get in the way of our overall destination. It reminds us to trust God to provide for us, to meet our daily needs.
As we rode the elevator down 21 flights of stairs, I wondered how many of our things were going to fit in the car, and what else would end up in the dumpster. I made of list of things I wasn’t willing to give up.
Here’s my list.
1. My purse — which contains my wallet, my cell phone, my journal, and usually the book I’m reading.
2. My laptop
3. My pillow and comforter (no matter where I’m living, if I have these things, it makes it feel like home)
4. My favorite pair of jeans.
5. My black hoodie (sometimes I wish I had a good excuse to wear jeans and a hoodie everyday)
The things we keep during a move, or that we would save from a fire, say something about us. Don’t you think? They say something about what is important to us, and where our treasure is. It’s not bad to have stuff, or to like stuff, but it’s also really good to ask ourselves — how would I respond if I had to give this up?
Question: If you could only take five things from your house right now, what would you choose? Why are these things important to you? To respond, click HERE.
That is a hard question! I keep trying to make a list here, but I just don’t know. I guess I should really think about it. I really appreciate your posts about moving, and I know I’ll be referring back to them in a few months – I’m getting married in May and we’re moving to Colorado (from Arkansas) the day after the wedding. I’m pretty sure the logistics of all of our “stuff” is going to be harder to figure out than wedding planning.
The start of my list is this:
1. Box of notes, letters, pictures from my boyfriend (now fiance).
2. Laptop.
3. My backpack (kind of the equivalent of your purse!).
Ashleigh,
As you can see from my response below, I am currently living in Colorado. Not sure what Arkansas is like, but people out here are, for the most part, super nice and welcoming. Most people (in the Denver area, at least) didn’t grow up here, so I think that’s a huge reason why it’s pretty easy to make friends.
Also, something I think is amazing about this place is that you CAN wear a hoodie every day (except if you have a professional job) — it is pretty casual. If you like to dress up, though, that is cool too.
How exciting to be getting married and moving! Congratulations!
Julia — I’m personally a little jealous you get to wake up to the Rocky Mountains everyday
Ashleigh Dean — I’ll be the first to tell you, from first hand experience, that moving logistics are so much more stressful than wedding logistics, especially when you move really quickly after your wedding. I’m glad that my posts have been encouraging for you, and that they’re making you think.
I’ll be praying for you as you walk through two very stressful transitions at the same time!
And yes, like Julia said, Congratulations on your engagement! That is so exciting!!
Ally,
When I moved out to Colorado from Massachusetts almost two and a half years ago, I flew out here with only two checked suitcases and a backpack. So, I guess, the things that I brought with me then would make the list.
Laptop
Commuter backpack (containing wallet, journal, book)… haha
Zipup hoodie, jeans, and my favorite tank top
Running shoes
Flip Flops
So I guess this is more than five things (since one of them is an outfit). Nothing like a good excuse to buy new running shoes
Wow, Julia. You definitely know what it feels like to leave things behind! What a crazy fun adventure. Are you a runner? How’s the running at elevation coming?
PS) I’d say an outfit totally counts as one thing.
1. 1st kid
2. 2nd kid
3. 3rd kid
4. PDA
5. wallet
Everything else can be easily replaced…
I laughed out loud when I read this list. In a good way. If I had kids, I hope they’d be on my list! Haha.
It hasn’t quite been a year since I did the same thing: loaded up my Toyota Corolla and moved across the country with only that which fit in the backseat and trunk. First, I was amazed at how much fit, but then when I was able to receive a second car load, I wondered why. I’d been living for two months on just the bare minimum stuff. I wondered why I needed more.
My five things:
1. My laptop
2. My iPhone (I don’t have internet at home. Luckily the neighbor recently gave me his password but I did the coffee shop thing for months)
3. My backpack (often containing the first two things but also my notebook, book, wallet, camera, pens, etc.)
4. My Bible. I’m ashamed to put this at #4 but it is easy to go buy a new Bible. Of course, a new Bible won’t have all of my notes in it but it’s still God’s word.
5. My glasses. I was thinking about a favorite article of clothing and while I have them, they’re all easily replaced. The glasses/contacts not so much. I like being able to see.
Katie
It’s amazing how little you can get away with, isn’t it Katie? When you have to live with less, it re-calibrates what you think of as “need” and “want” don’t you think?
It’s one of the reasons I love traveling. You don’t have access to everything you want, or even “need” so you have to get creative.
No shame in putting your iphone before your Bible. After all, there’s always YouVersion App, right?
It definitely readjusts need vs. want. I think I need to pack up and move across the country again because I’m finding myself saying, “I need a bread knife” and “I need another pair of jeans.” Do I really?
ooh!
#1 Journal – dear lord NO ONE needs to find those and figure out what a complete nut job i am!
#2 Purse.
#3 phone. i am convinced i could run the world with the dang thing…
#4 Pics of my Mom
#5 A snack. I get hungry often
AMEN to your #1. Part of me would want to grab all of my journals, just so that no one else could find them.
And your #5 made me laugh. Ask my husband. Sometimes when I’m acting a little testy, he knows that I probably just need a snack.
Love your whole list. Thanks for sharing. AND great name.
I’m so thankful for this post. Sometimes it feels like if I REALLY want to be a good Christian, I have to be able to easily say, “I would walk out of my burning house with none of my stuff as long as the people were safe.” Maybe I would be able to do that, but there are a few things I’d certainly like to keep.
My five:
1) Laptop. So many photos and words on here I would hate to lose.
2) Purse. (wallet, phone, etc)
3) My box of old notebooks (they help me remember where I’ve been)
4) Favorite pair of jeans
5) Sweatshirt I got on my trip to Scotland (for comfort reasons and memories)
Brianna — that’s a great list.
I’m glad you liked the post. I don’t think God wants us to hate all “stuff”. I just think he wants us to be more attached to Him than we are to our things.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for prodding me to think through this, Ally. Like you, we just moved and had to get rid of A LOT of stuff. Goes to show that most stuff isn’t that necessary. Having said that, here are my five things (in no particular order!):
1. My Macbook Air. It has become the center of much of what I do.
2. My wife. Couldn’t live without her.
3. My iPhone. Best way to communicate with our kids.
4. My wallet. It’s an aluma-wallet. It rocks.
5. My pillow. I know the kind of pillow I like, and most homes/hotels I visit do not have the kind I like.
I’m with Georgio. My wife, my three sons, and our kitchen table (solid wood, custom made for us 10 years ago. Lots of memories!)
This is incredibly appropriate for me right now since it’s been suggested I evacuate for Hurricane Sandy. It’s been hard to decide what to take and what to leave. I am taking all my floppy disks with me this time (yup, still have them) since a lot of my aunt’s writings are on them.
1) Definitely my husband — but if that’s a given, then I’d say 2 handmade ceramic mugs that were made by an artist friend in Pennsylvania and that have traveled with me through every major life transition in the past 9 years
2) Handmade quilt made by my best friend
3) Tattered but beloved sundress that my mom used to wear in college
4) External hard drive with 600+GB of photos, articles & letters I’ve written since 2004
5) Yellow enamel basin (thrifted) that my husband and I used to wash each other’s feet on our wedding night
Such a great way to remember that none of this is ours in the first place, to hold our possessions lightly and to share our home/belongings/relationships/time/heart with others generously.