Etcetera

I keep thinking we should get to that place where we're done.

On Monday we'll mark one whole month since being handed the keys.  As of today, it's been a full week we've been allowed to sleep here.  And when I wrote that just now, it didn't sound like a long time.  It just feels like so much has happened, it must be longer.

I've actually only moved four times in my whole life, and the last gap between moves was 36 years.  I forget just now long it takes to settle into a new home.

And we have accomplished a lot.  All the 'big stuff' is done and we can nicely function in here at this point.  Enough, at least, to focus more on our work than on the house.  Our time is spent less and less on lugging and unpacking, and more and more at our desks, or just making supper together, or just watching the news.  You know, the normal things people do in their homes.  It's only in little segments now that we turn our attention back on the house, just working on the persnickety finishing touches.

But as we go, putzing and putting and placing, I'm wondering if "finishing touches" might be somewhat of a misleading term when it comes to settling into a new house.  Because there's still a goodly list, and I'm not entirely sure when we will be "finished."

Installing ceiling fans, for one.  And finding the exact right place for the wooden star I bought on clearance last spring, and the heart-shaped hooks I found online for $5.00 a piece.

I do suppose there will come a day when we stop hanging pictures, or rearranging things on shelves, or finding another box marked 'DECOR' and deciding what might work where.  The screw driver, stud finder, screws and plugs, and the persnickety-ness required to do it 'right', will all be put away, instead of staying out to be handy for the next little project.

Soon, I think, there will come a time when we might say we're done moving in. But then spring will arrive, and it will be time to think about landscaping, and what goes on our porch, and redoing the parts of the driveway that had to be dug up during construction, and what about the shed?

And then, when we've got all that taken care of, we'll probably leave it alone for a while.  Just go about our normal lives....until we go thrifting and I find that black wire basket that will be perfect in the bathroom, and maybe we'll find a better configuration for where we keep things in the kitchen, and change stuff around.  And so it goes.  Not unlike it was in our last house, or even at the cottage, come to think of it.  There's always something.

I suppose I'm thinking of this because we really would like to have an open house kind of thing where whoever is inclined might stop by for the 'two minute tour' (it's a small house, doesn't take that long) and a cup of cider.  That's coming, so stay tuned.  And when it does, I'd like everything to be perfect  ready.

Pause to hear myself on all of this.

One of the goals I set for myself in the 2024-2025 ministry season was to "be mindful of the process of being formed into the likeness of Christ for the sake of others (Mullholland) through:" and then I list some of the anticipated opportunities for that....the big one being the latter stages of our move.  Like, what's happening right now.

And I realize that I keep thinking I should get to the place when I'm done too.  But I'm not.  If a time of stress and upheaval reveals anything, it's what's still needs the finessing big work of the Spirit in my soul.  And if I think otherwise, if I don't allow the time, if I stop being mindful, and think it's just about what is hung on the walls instead of living abundantly within them, I risk the shallow, show-home results of living an unexamined life.

So when we do end up having you all over (just not all at once), and if we do get to know each other a little bit more, it's likely you'll notice what's not yet complete.  

Because if I waited until it was all perfect, I'd never let you in.