Traveling Light

We just returned from the annual Brentwood Oaks family retreat. This was our 20th retreat, and, as we were reminded many times this weekend, our last for awhile. I tried to treasure every breathtaking view, every conversation with dear friends, every moment of exhortation, every song shared with our church family. I can't help but think about all the retreats in the past that I have taken for granted, just knowing that next year there would be another to enjoy. One of the lessons I am learning from this time of life is to treasure every experience that God blesses us with.

A question that I answered over and over this weekend was, "What have you done with your stuff?" My quick answer was, "We got rid of most of it!" We sold our house in February and had just three weeks to move out. We sold some of our furniture, gave away a few pieces, and placed some with good friends who agreed to "furniture sit" for us. We have a small storage unit that has boxes of things we think we'll need when we come back. But most of our "stuff" we gave away or just got rid of. This process was much easier than I thought it would be. I even confess to some enjoyment at watching years of collected memorabilia go into the trash. After all, now that this stuff is gone, I don't have to figure out how to display it, scrapbook it, or store it!

Now we are living in the home of some friends who are letting us house sit while they travel for a few months. We only have our clothes and a few boxes of photos and business papers that we still have to sort through. I am finding this a very freeing experience. There is no temptation to buy new things, no desire to decorate, no need to collect more items that will eventually have to be dusted. It frees my mind to think about other things. Maybe that's a another lesson I needed to learn--the one Jesus taught when he said not to lay up treasures here on earth. Linda