Creating Space

This was the first piece of furniture I ever owned when I moved out on my own. 

It cost me $7, and was nearly impossible to get into my room. 

It was a running joke that I would have to just sell it with my room because I might not be able to get it out. But when I moved, I was stubborn. Eventually with the help of several others I was able to get it out the door. Although the battle was only half won, my new space was a basement room down a long hallway. We got it through the door into the basement but came super close to giving up after that. Once again though I was stubborn, we took down the door and finally after a lot of hassle shoved it into my room. 

After that my roommate and I both agreed that we might not be able to get it back out and it might truly have to  be sold with the space. 

Two years later though and I was just as stubborn. RIcky and I tried to get it out and eventually gave up, then I had my friend Lauren come over and eventually through some strong determination we got the chair out of my bedroom. 

At this point, the chair wasn’t looking its best. I knew that it was probably time to get rid of it, but to me it was more than just a chair. It was the first thing I picked out when I was on my own. It was the chair that I sat on countless mornings as I watched the sunrise and read my bible. I sat on that chair huddled up with blankets laughing and crying with friends over the years. It was my favorite place to curl up with a book. It was a chair that brought me a lot of joy in the several years it inhabited space in my small bedrooms. 

Yet this time moving out is different. It marks a new season for me. The next place I move I won’t have a handful of roommates, it will be the space that Ricky and I have when we get married. At first I was stubborn again, thinking we definitely needed that floral chair in our house. 

 Yet I kept feeling this small nudge, to let go and to embrace the new season in front of me. To let go and to make new space for Ricky and I to find something that is ours for our home rather than something from my past. 

Getting rid of that chair helped to teach me several things. That it is good to let go of what was and to embrace what is to come. It is necessary sometimes to fully step into a new season without carrying pieces from the past. It is important to clear out space for new growth. 

You don’t plant a flower in soil where it has no space to grow or where it will be overrun by weeds. You don’t want it to be overshadowed and choked out by what grows around it. You plant it in soil where it will thrive and have the space that it needs to grow deep roots. 

It is important to celebrate new beginnings, to cherish them and to embrace what they will bring. Sometimes in order to do that you have to take inventory of all the things that have brought you to where you are and make the decision on what gets to move forward with you. 

Make space for what is to come, celebrating the journey  as you go. Don’t miss what is in front of you because you are holding onto the pieces of the past. 

“ behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. “ Isaiah 43:19