Fresh Start

I'm finally motivated enough to begin taking down the Christmas decorations.  This is the very least enjoyable part of the Christmas season... packing away ornaments.  It is like unpacking and doing laundry after a vacation.  A necessary hassle.

Today, I got a little choked up putting away the tree.  I realized that I'm not sure when I'll get to see all these sentimental ornaments again.  Who knows where we'll be next Christmas, although I guess it is like that every year, for every one.  We don't know what our year will hold, what plan God has for the next year in our lives.  But for me, this year, it is certain that I really don't know where our family will be for Christmas 2012.  I don't know when we will have our own Christmas tree in our own home.  For how many years will these ornaments be in storage?  It's not the decorations themselves that I will miss so much, it is the comfort... the safety, the familiarity, the tradition of it all.

I'm not an adventure seeker by nature.  I don't thrive on spontaneity or uncertainty.  I am not a risk taker.  This whole "moving to Haiti" thing is totally and completely out of my comfort zone, a move totally orchestrated and designed by God... I'm willing to be along for the ride.  So in moments like this, packing up the decorations, sending many to the yard sale pile, I am reminded of this journey that God is preparing for us, and while I am excited, it also carries some sadness of letting go of the way my life has been, compared to what it will be from here on.