The Search for a Home

Originally, we had been planning that we’d be moving right around this time. We wanted to find a place to live closer to my husband’s work and thought we’d already have all the details nailed down right now. However, a couple of weeks into the search process and we realized something: There’s a chance we might try to buy a house!

It really came out of nowhere and surprised even me because I didn’t think it was really possible right now. But when we started looking, we saw that with a little TLC, it could really become a reality.

Because of that, we have extended our lease at our current apartment for another month, while we troll more houses and contemplate putting offers on the ones we feel make a good fit.

We’ve only been looking for a couple of weeks, and already I’ve realized how overwhelming this process can be, how consuming it can be with the thought of finding the “perfect” home.

When we first started looking at homes, I got pretty excited, thinking that this could become our future home. With barely even an offer on the table, I caught myself daydreaming about all the accessorizing and decorating and crafting that might be. I caught myself starting to worry about the disheveled décor that I’d seen and wondering how in the world I could fix them up. I started researching ideas and possibilities, scouting out modern rugs for the living room, pretty knobs for the kitchen cabinets, paint swatches for the bathroom walls.

And I caught myself as I was swept up in the moment of “maybe” and letting it overwhelm me, when we didn’t even know if this house would become ours. (Not surprisingly, it didn’t.)

As we search for a possible home, I want to be careful to make sure not to waste my energies fretting over surface details like these when they’re not even yet a reality. I have to remind myself that a house is more than how it looks and how it could look if only a little bit of this and that.

As they say, “Home is where the heart is.”

Whether we find that in a house with our name on it or another rented apartment where squirrels invade, I want to find contentment there—not in what might be.

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Rejoicing In A Morning Slowed

This morning I felt unusually peaceful and patient and calm and unhurried. As I sat at the breakfast table with my Bible opened wide, I did not rush through my daily reading like usual. Instead, I thumbed through the concordance at the end, looking up my latest curiosities, seeking stories I couldn't remember clearly, pausing over all the noted places where Scriptures speak of things like "joy."

I pulled out my notebook and journaled, a practice I all too often abandon when time seizes up and captures my attention, pulling me away from what truly is most eternally urgent for that which is simply of the moment.

It was so unusual, that I noticed it. Isn't that sad? I took note of the fact that today, I simply sat before the King and drank in his presence without regard to all the things calling to me, "Martha! Martha!"

I dearly welcomed this change of pace. And it got me wondering...why was today any different? Is it that I no longer have a day's worth of work duties beckoning me to the computer and to emails and to phone calls?

Then I remembered this morning's prayer. As I watched my husband walk out the front door, lunch in hand, I could tell he was feeling rushed. I could tell his morning was not getting off to the best start. So as I closed the door behind him, I prayed for him, that the ticking of the clock and burden of responsibilities might be overwhelmed by God's peace "which transcends all understanding." (Philippians 4:7)

I prayed that for my husband, and yet I realized that God, in his goodness, shared that gift even with me, though I hadn't realized that I needed it, too. What a kind and generous God we serve.

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village.

And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.

And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.

But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said,

“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,

but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:38-42

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Seeking Simplicity: Cutting Back Time Wasted Online

In this burgeoning journey toward learning simplicity, one of the first fruits is that I've started to discover the areas that sap and steal simplicity from my routine.

Would you like to know what is #1 on my list? 

Friends, it is time spent online. 

Between going through emails (and four email accounts, no less), getting rid of spam and junk emails, trolling blogs and reading posts that do absolutely nothing for me or my time invested, as well as all my job-related tasks that take place online, a significant amount of my time is spent here...but not very wisely, I've realized. (Fortunately, though, I spend very little time on Facebook as it is, and don't tweet, stumble, tumble or any of those other online time sucks.)

For instance, the other morning, I sat down at my computer around 8am. By 11am, I looked up and when asked what I accomplished, and could hardly tell you anything of worth. I learned what some lady is making for dinner tonight, what a girl with cute outfits did over the weekend, how to make some recipes that I know I'll never make, and what products people are wanting to sell me. But of worth? Extremely little. 

It was obvious that this arena needed more simplicity, to be more stream-lined, but how? At first I thought about limiting the time I spent online, only checking emails once or twice a day. But legalism can only take you so far and is not likely to make an enduring habit or lifestyle.

Instead I decided to bring my recent decluttering spree to the online nooks and crannies I frequent. I started off by unsubscribing from the dozens of newsletters that show up in my inbox that I never, ever read. The problem was that even though I wasn't spending time reading the, I was still spending time to click and send them to the trash or weed through my spam inbox to make sure nothing fell through the cracks. On a daily basis, these clicks add up. Plus they junk up my inbox.

So, I have spent about 15 to 30 minutes for the past couple of days unsubscribing from the various emails that would pop into my inbox and spam folder. Some of the unsubscribing was easier than others. (Do you know how psyched I get now when I come across "one-click unsubscribe" options?!) Still others said I was unsubscribed, even though I continue to receive their emails. (Which earned them a distinction flagged as spam.) Tedious, but at least some progress is being made!

Then, I decided the same needed to be made regarding my blog reading. I realized that when I have a blog reading list that is long and unwieldy, I spend half the time just trying to stay caught up, which then leaves me unable to really appreciate the worthwhile posts that do relate to my life. So I went through and whittled my reading down to about 20 tried-and-true blogs that I constantly find myself commenting on, saving or recalling later. With this smaller, more manageable list (of which you can find many of my blog recommendations on my blog roll), I now feel like I have the time to actually sit down and read each of them for all their worth, rather than just scrolling through them like a hitchhiker on the way to other destinations.

Currently, that's as far as the progress I've made to cut back time spent online, but I know that this process is incremental, finding one small way to make an improvement followed by another small way. Slowly, ever slowly, it all adds up and progress is made.

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My To-Do List Notebook: A Quiet-Time Essential

 

photo by jclement

Here's something I've found especially helpful, not only throughout the day but also as I tackle my daily quiet time of prayer, reading and reflection: Keep a to-do list nearby.

I'm not sure why I never considered this before. It never fails that, right when you're ready to settle in and spend some time praying, that you remember: I need to pick up some more tomatoes from the grocery. I need to check and see if the laundry is done. I should do some research on printer ink and look up some books from the library. I usually am tempted to get up and do "just this one thing--real quick." Before you know it, you slip into one thing, then another, then another, and the day dwindles.

Now, with my to-do list perched alongside of me, when those sorts of thoughts inevitably stream along, I just write them down, knowing they won't get forgotten but I'll get to them later.. Interestingly enough, right when I started doing this was when I was reading Let God Talk To You. In it, she encourages the same practice to which I gave myself a big high-five for intuition--that I'm not alone in realizing the simplicity yet effectiveness of this simple solution.

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