Place

This week I moved into a new apartment –well, really it feels more like a house than “just” an apartment. Both my housemate and I are ridiculously excited about it. So excited that it makes me stop and think. Why? Sure, it is a nice old place with lots of character and even though it may not be in the best neighborhood by some standards we like the location. But why is moving in so important?

My hypothesized answer is that we want to settle. We were excited about moving into our first apartment last year, but we knew that it would most likely be temporary. Now we can hope that we won’t have to move in a year, as both of us have been doing since we left our parents’ homes for college. Settling means putting down some roots, doing things well now as small investments – hanging curtains with care, planning for a garden – hoping we will be here for a while to enjoy them.

Settling means security, in the wisdom of the world. I am again reminded of the challenging words of Jesus “the Son of Many has no place to lay his head”, and continue in my struggle to understand what it means to follow Christ here and now. It seems to me that we must be willing to loosen our grasp on the gift of place even as we treasure it, knowing our hearts truly long for another home (eg Heb 11). In our fervor of settling in here, I pray that we may avoid the temptation to comfortableness and apathy, and learn rather the art of contentment and generosity.