Haiti changed us. I mean, it was bound to happen. We were prepared for it. We were already headed this direction. But Haiti? God used to Haiti to push us into this sweet little spot in which we currently sit.
Oh, it may not seem sweet to you. After all, we do not have a place that we currently can call “home”. We are bouncing back and forth between cities, keeping previous commitments, just going with the flow of things. And we have no idea what is next for us.
A home? Well, right now, home is wherever we are together. Eventually we will find the right house in Nashville for our little family, but our priorities changed. We no longer care about having certain things in a house that we cared about before. I mean, we just lived in the smallest. apartment. ever. for a whole month! We all shared 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom. We had no kitchen. There was no hot water. We all only had about 8 days’ worth of clothes. And, somehow, we managed just fine. (I don’t think that Gary and I have spent every day for a month together – ever – in our 13 years of marriage! And we didn’t kill each other!) We realized how little we really need to be happy.
Upstairs was our little apartment. Almost half of it was that cute porch! We loved that tiny temporary home!
We minimized before we left. I mean – we cleaned out our house. Or, we thought we had. Now, we realize there is still so much that we could easily get rid of. Our last house was about 1000 sq ft smaller than the one before it. And now, we are considering an even smaller house. People have said things like – “Don’t, one day you’ll wish you hadn’t.” Well, you know what?
I HOPE WE DON’T! I hope that ONE DAY never comes. I never want to look back and say “I really wish I hadn’t given up a big house/gotten rid of all that stuff” or “I really wish I had spent more money on this/bought more of that”. You know why? Because stuff doesn’t matter. People do. And there are a lot of people in this world that need help and love. And holding onto material things isn’t going help anyone or love people. Stuff is just that, stuff.
At the end of the day, I don’t really care if I have a house that impresses anyone. Or a massive fabulous wardrobe. Or a fancy car. Or if I live in the coolest neighborhood. And I certainly don’t care if someone thinks less of me because I don’t.
At the end of my life, it would be sad if I was remembered because of my material possessions. I want, at the end of my days, to be remembered for the love I gave and for what I did for the least. Because that? That is what truly matters.
