Packing our lives into Boxes.

 

I have lost track of how many times we have moved now. Sometimes we have gone just down the road at other times we have traveled half the country. It never ceases to amaze me each time though, how much we have acquired. Whether we leave after six months or three years we seem to have accumulated more than is generally needed. So comes the routine of cleansing our lives of what is no longer required. Clothes and toys grown out of get passed on or charity shoppped, along with books that are no longer read. Broken things get re-purposed or thrown out and the enormous pile of magazines each child accumulates over time is sneakily taken to the recycling, hopefully without them ever noticing. Then what is left is packed into boxes of varying shapes and sizes and for about forty eight hours our lives are neatly packaged labelled and organised. Shortly after that the normal chaos ensues.

It is nice however briefly to feel totally in control. There is no mess, no confusion, and no burden. It all sits in it's boxes and I do not need to clean it or tidy it. There is a down side to it all of course. It is useless. In their boxes you can not touch them, read them, cook with them or play with them. It is all very easy to look at the boxes and know where everything is, but this is not the way it is meant to be. 

In some ways your realize how superfluous some of what you own is, other things you realize you are dependent on. Both of these always make me sad. The fact that I own things I do not need, shows me that I am as vulnerable to the consumerist society, as everyone else. I don't like looking in that particular mirror at all. Secondly that I am dependent on gadgets and products to manage, when many people round the world do not have food, let alone something nice to cook it in. 

I am continuously torn between wanting what is waved in front of my face,  the nice desirable things and not taking more from the world than is rightfully mine. I have attempted to make our lives as smaller  an impact on the world as possible, we tend to shop in Charity shops, get most of our furniture from freecycle or relatives and try to buy organic food. When we are finished with something it gets recycled at home or passed on. Still at times like this I can not help but reflect on how privileged I am to have access to these things. Therefore in a few weeks when we arrive at our new destination, and take a whole new path in this journey for God, I will be unpacking those things as quickly as possible. To make use of them. To leave them in the boxes, unused and unloved would make my possession of them even more futile. After all when they are out of boxes, people can come over for tea, cake and a small slice of conversation.