Right now my house is the most chaotic picture you could ever imagine. I have bags and boxes of various sizes piled up in scattered locations in literally every room. There are the things that are now free for the taking and about to be given to a charity...there are the items already sold but not yet picked up....there are items that we continue to need up until the move... there are items already packed and ready for transport to Nassau... there are items that are being moved to store at the cottage and there are items that still need to be sorted..
ARGGGGGG
I look around and everything in my visual field causes me to the mental exercise of keep, give away, cottage, Nassau, ... My brain hurts.. it really hurts. I cannot wait to live more simply and stop the analysis in my head. At least I hope that happens, this experience might yet cause me to crack permanently! There is however a strange calm in my life about the people who are in it. One might think that that I would be a crying mess all the time and to be honest I do cry often but not about the people you think I would cry about. I cry at leaving the impact I have with my clients, and I cry about leaving the consistency of seeing them each week. But when it comes to my friends and family, I have a beautiful "must be God given" calm. I am strangely calm about the people in my life. I think it is because I know the relationships that are strong will endure this minor blip of distance. Family and friends, if they are true might be slightly tested as we figure out how to maneuver the distance factor but the calm that I am experiencing is because I do not fear losing them. I will always have them in my life, whether they be found in my heart, on my skype contact list, or in my guest room in Nassau. Without that calm this chaos that is currently surrounding me and causing my brain to hurt would be unbearable. I am thankful for the people that God has and will surround me with because I know they are there to stay.
All week I have been singing a song that has the line "A pirates life for me". Actually I have only been singing the one line because that is all I know. Furthermore and quite sadly all I know about Pirates is from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean and the musical Pirates of Penzance so this blog will need to be read from a Hollywood perspective.. anyway back to the song...oops, great, now I have the song, "I am the very model of modern major general" in my head.. oops sorry, so do you !Pirates have been on my mind as I have been preparing our home, family and pets for our move to Nassau. My Pirate thoughts have cheered me up and actually encouraged me to keep going. All the things that I believe being a pirate involves are really really fun (minus the violence and mutiny). Things like pretending I have a peg leg, singing awesome songs, my outstanding Johnny Depp impersonation and using the phrase "Me Hardee's" a lot. All of these have been my companion this week as I have been sorting and packing and yes they are fun but I have to admit that most of the encouragement from my Pirate thoughts is from the knowledge that there is a future adventure awaiting me in Nassau.What adventure pray tell can come from these pirate themed thoughts? Again, not really sure but I do have some ideas that I think my Nassau Pirate adventure will lead me towards.1. I have for the past 5 years worked primarily with kids whose parents could afford to cover the costs of therapy, I often gave huge discounts for those who could not afford it but the majority of those who sought my services could afford it. Will this new adventure for me allow me a place to work within and learn from a community who for the most part consider anything beyond groceries a luxury? I hope so, I have a huge passion for teen girls, there are so many obstacles for them no matter what demographic they come from, I cannot wait to see where I end up.
2. My treasures for the past 8 years, as you have read in my blog boxless treasures have been stored up within my house. I want the adventure of learning how to treasure people and experiences which God has planned for me over (way over) what I own or can tangibly hold.
3. Trust, it seems to me that Pirates have to learn to trust each other in order to gain the treasure, sure this breaks down when mutiny happens or one pirate gets more greedy than others but lets not use that part of my analogy right now. They journey together,depend on each other to do their job and share the treasure together. I want to learn how to better trust the community in which I find myself. I am such a solitary person. I can be completely content not seeing another soul for a really long time. But God has called me and challenged me to live life in community, this requires trust. The reward is and will be the joy of the connection with people from a community. The goal will be the feeling of connectedness. I want to be able to look at Me Hardees and raise my glass in a toast to our community that our lives point to the ultimate treasure, knowing God. I am looking forward to the adventure of figuring out where I fit in and where God has plans for me.
So yes, I want a pirates life.. without the violence and crime ..I want and look forward to the adventures of life in the Bahamas God has planned for me.So keep praying Me Hardees, our adventure is just about to begin.
