Moving, just keep moving

It's been a very long time between blogs! I have struggled to keep up with the pace of my new job and so have been a bit snowed under with lecture preparation and marking. Now semester has finished and there's just a bit of collating to do for final grades.

I'm also moving again this week. I have really enjoyed living in the current place but it's great to have the opportunity to move in with a new friend and be able to save a bit on rent. Thankfully some of my things are still in boxes from before (since my current place is furnished) so it's just a matter of moving the boxes as they are. As well as packing up my things here, I have also recently been going through the nostalgic process of packing up and clearing out the family home I lived in for 22 years. There were a lot of memories to sort through and it was sometimes hard to decide what is worth keeping and what is not. I think I have become better at throwing things out (I have always been a hoarder!), and as I have cleared out and thrown out and packed things away, I have found myself thinking about what's really necessary and what is extraneous or unhelpful. Vague thoughts of future overseas work also enter my head and make me wonder what I would take with me.

I want to be able to live simply wherever I am, unencumbered by extra, unnecessary possessions (and not obsessed with accumulating them), but somehow I still find it hard to part with nick-nacks that each have a story to tell – the framed photos of friends and family, the miniature painted china houses my aunt brought me back from Greece, the sequined beanie frog prince that was a gift from a girlfriend for my 16^th birthday. And all those books...

Jesus constantly challenged his followers to exchange their treasures on earth for treasures in heaven (Luke 12:33 and Matt 19:21) and to be on their guard against seeing their value in their possessions (Luke 12:15) and it seems that members of the early church were characterised by their willingness to sell their possessions and give to those in need (Acts 2:45). Earlier, the writer of Ecclesiastes pondered a similar question, e.g. Ecclesiastes 5:11 (see Ecclesiates 5:8-20 for more on this theme):

¹¹ As goods increase,
so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owner
except to feast his eyes on them?

I think his conclusion in 5:19 is helpful in thinking about having balance between the enjoyment of possessions with contentment, and the recognition of where they come from (and hence that they can be taken away at any time) and the fact that they are not really necessary to life and unfulfilling in themselves:

¹⁹ Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God.