A Blank Page

A Blank Page

Well, we have been in our new home for exactly 16 days.  Upon arrival all we had was a small trailer of things we needed to meet immediate needs and carry us through until our PODS arrived.  The first night, the house was empty except for a few small lamps and tables and the air mattress we used when we were here in January.  Walking around the house was so weird and a little spooky.  Because of the high ceilings, it seemed all noise echoed.  Everywhere were bare walls, bare cabinets, bare rooms, bare closets.  Looking around though, all I saw was opportunity. The opportunity to begin again...a blank page on which we could write anything we wanted.  A blank, empty house that we could transform into a home.

And so, the work began.  We dove into that trailer with a vengeance the morning after we arrived and began looking at each room as if it were a canvas.  Deciding which cabinet to put the dishes in where it will be most accessible and convenient to empty the dishwasher.  Which drawer for silverware.  Which cabinet for pots and pans or spices.  Speaking of spices - I still can't find the box the spices are in....foods been pretty bland thus far. (Smile.)

When the PODS arrived 8 days after we did, and everything was unloaded. HOLY COW!  Stuff!!  Major stuff!! to unpack and put away. And the work of unpacking has continued on and will continue for what I think will be a long time.  Working one room at a time has been rewarding. It's been exciting to see  each room as it begins to take shape. 

What I am finding, however, is that old habits from 27 years of reaching into certain drawers or cabinets on certain sides of the kitchen, still remain.  I keep trying to put the open can of dog food in the pantry because that is where the frig was in our old house.  I keep opening the cabinet to the right of the sink to throw trash away because that's the side of the sink the trash cabinet was on in the old house.  In the new house the trash cabinet is on the left of the sink.    

The creation of a masterpiece, a home, on a blank page is going to take time.  It will be a slow physical process as we unpack the many, many boxes and tubs, but it will also be a slow mental process for us.  It really is like an artist with a blank canvas.  The artist gets a physical vision and a mental vision of what he or she wants to see on that canvas.  And it takes time to get it just right. 

Yes, the opportunity to fill a blank page is here for us. But, as anxious as we are to get settled and get everything put away and in place in this big empty house, it is going to take time.  We need to take our time and get it just right.  Making it a masterpiece created with care and love and thought, not just stuff.   A home filled with love and laughter and the presence of God.  A blank page, made beautiful in it's time.

"What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men.  He has made everything beautiful in it's time..."   Eccl. 3: 9:11a