By Lydia Jentzen Will
When you find that sweet spot, that impossibly perfect moment – the temptation is to stay there. Set up a tent and camp right there, forever.
For the past 7 years, we’ve lived in the little house directly behind my parents. It has been the most amazing blessing. From sneaking over in the early morning to have coffee with my Dad to our shared backyard bonfires and the countless running back and forth of the kids from my house to theirs, I have loved every moment. And while our family has expanded at a fast clip and most people would have moved out of this little house long ago, the mere thought of leaving is hard for me.
I love this place. I love the proximity to family. I love that my Uncle Jim is on the next block and swings by to kiss babies on his way home from work. I love that my girls can run and borrow sugar from my sister in law, and that our kids play together in our back yard. I love that my Mom and I plant vegetables together, and that my Dad built a path for his grand kids to skip over on their way to visit him.
I love that we never need an excuse to be together. I love our shared life, and that my community includes the people who love us best. I can put up with quite a lot from this little tiny house if it means staying, for just a bit longer. This place has been so much more to me than just my family’s home. It has been a way of life that I cling to with both hands.
I just want to stay, unchanging, like this forever.
But that, well, it’s not sustainable. And it’s not God’s best.
In music, you can’t just hop up on a note and sit there. After a moment or two, even perfectly held – it stagnates if it doesn’t change somehow. Grow. Move. Expand. Our perfect moments and spaces are like that if we just hold on and refuse to let God change us.
Last Fall, All Son’s and Daughters visited St. Luke. I had never heard of them before, so I checked them out on YouTube before the concert. Their song “Called Me Higher” gets me thinking about this life, this home, this desire to stay, just like this, forever. It reminds me that, as wonderful and perfect this may seem, God has even more in store. Change is coming for us, but I don’t need to fear it, or hold tight to the things I love about right now. I can let go and step out and know that, wherever the changes take us, He’s got us securely held in His hands.
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