3 Things I Learned About Moving and Changing Addresses

Those smiles.. they keep us moving. ;)

So I did the math, and it turns out I’ve never stayed in one house longer than 18 months, and have lived in 10 different addresses in the past 8 years. Eleven, if you count this next move. Apparently, getting married and having kids didn’t really make me “settle down”, and that “last stop” was not really the last.

You’d think I have mastered the art of moving houses at this point, but somehow, each move is still every bit as hard and as stressful as the first one. I mean, come on, I used to just pack my own stuff, and now.. I have to pack for 4 people. And while I’m starting to get a bit tired about packing and unpacking and changing addresses, I find that moving has taught me valuable lessons I wouldn’t have learned otherwise. Here are just some of them:

1. You learn to not hold on to material things too much.

Renting out apartments is like backpacking, only with bigger bags and boxes. Knowing that apartments are temporary, we’ve learned to periodically purge stuff we don’t need, to live simply, and to not hoard too many things that we can’t eventually bring with us when it’s time to move again.

2. You learn to trust and follow God’s lead.

The truth is, each move that I’ve made throughout the past years of apartment-hopping has been accompanied by answered prayers, and provisions, and perfect timing. It’s easy to complain about moving and to be too comfortable once settled in one place, but we’ve learned enough to be ready to pack up and go when God says it’s time to go.

3. You learn the difference between “house” and “home”.

“Houses” are confined to a place, but “home” is that which you bring with you wherever you go, whether it’s in the next street or the next city or the next continent. I’ve struggled about moving my whole life, I still do. Moving is scary, packing is stressful, and adjusting to a new place can be overwhelming. But I’ve learned to find comfort in the thought that as long as I have my little family with me, home is wherever we go.

This is it you guys. See you when the chaos is over.