Try this thought experiment. Imagine a collection of psychologists, brain function experts, interior designers, organization experts, and zen masters proposed the following: Take everything out of your house except for the absolute essentials. Keep clothes to last you a few weeks, toiletries, and technological devices (especially CHARGERS, don’t forget chargers!!!). Get rid of anything you think doesn’t need to make its way back into your house like the lost sock collection and the faded, smelly couch that no one sits on anymore. Fill your garage from floor to ceiling with whatever you might keep. Next, have an interior designer bring their own furniture, lighting and accents in your house and show you what it should look like. Live in the house for a few weeks so you get used to the ‘feel’ of a new layout. Then, after the designers move their stuff out, move yours back in. Piece by piece, bring your furniture, clothes, lamps, books, and more back into your house, evaluating what should stay and what can go for good. Redesign your home from scratch. Use what you have or buy new items if necessary. Give yourself a new home without moving. Sounds easy enough, right?
Its late-September 2017, Sara and I have unintentionally begun the process described above, although it wasn’t an expert’s recommendation.
In late August, Sara came across a home nearby to ours that had been for sale for some time and the price was getting closer and closer to something we could afford. With the ‘wild’ housing market in San Diego right now, we saw an opening to sell our home and purchase another with a yard that could contain the soccer balls, baseballs, arrows, screwdrivers (yes, screwdrivers), and noise that our current yard could not. Our three wonderful, but not so mild-mannered boys had spent the summer outgrowing our back yard and we thought this might be the perfect opportunity. We put a low “it’s gonna take a miracle” bid on the house and after a week and a half, the sellers miraculously chose us despite having higher offers! We didn’t have time to be stunned, our house had to be on the market in three days. We worked tirelessly getting the house prepared with an incredible amount of help from the grandparents. To give us the best chance to sell quickly, our agent planned to have our house ‘staged’ the day before we listed. This unfamiliar process is where the mass removal of stuff from our home comes in. Professional designers came with a crew and moved all our stuff into the garage and filled the home with brand new furniture that fit our space perfectly. Seeing our house like this was a twilight zone experience. The decor and furniture was beautiful, matching our coastal paint colors and style.
It all happened so fast…On the day we listed our house (a Friday), the sellers on our desired home unexpectedly exercised a clause that gave us 72 hours to have a buyer. Apparently, they found their next home, and couldn’t wait for us. They had to go back to another buyer with less contingencies and a higher offer. A process that seemed to have us flying on angel’s wings came to a screeching halt and we were left to imagine how the ultimate miracle of selling our home was going to happen. We had open houses on Saturday and Sunday, and an extra day added to the 72 hours because of the Labor Day holiday. But by Tuesday night, we had no real offers and a realization that God must have different plans. We kept our house on the market for a few more days but began planning what we were going to do once the stagers removed all their items and much of our house was left empty.
There was a mild sadness in our family. We had all bought into the move. The kids had masterfully handled the stress of realtor appointments, shuffling the house around, and living on borrowed furniture that was much nicer than ours. Fortunately, we loved our house and were quite comfortable staying put despite the daunting task of unpacking our garage and putting the pieces back in our home. Interestingly, the last 5 years are the longest we’d stayed in one home since we were married 17 years ago. And all of us had been there the whole time, plus a few extras, so we had lots of stuff. Over the few weeks of having our garage packed, I was struck by how few of our things were actually used on a day to day basis. As much as we’d like to have a garage instead of a storage unit, we’re in no rush to drag everything back in.
Despite watching thousands of lives turned upside down because of hurricanes in Texas and Florida and counting our blessings, we are still contemplating the significance of the move that wasn’t to be. The lesson could be just thank God we have a home. We’ve experienced a cleansing of sorts, a decluttering of the highest magnitude. What was God doing? This is a question we often ask in the face of suffering. But our situation was more weird than it was painful. It had the makings of a miracle. The night before our deadline to have a buyer, we even had a Korean immigrant couple show up without an appointment wanting to have look at our home and not wanting the trouble of using an agent. They talked about getting a deal done quickly so their kids could settle into their new schools. They said they a loan approval up to one million dollars so the price wasn’t an obstacle. Our kids watched them walk through the house and after they left we sat wondering, did God really just do that – deliver a buyer right to our door in a way that only credit could go to him? Alas, he did not.
So, what was this upheaval about? We are still wondering. Ironically, we got a call this week notifying us the buyers on the other property backed out and the house was for sale once again. Sara and I had a chuckle about how we knew something like this would happen. But truthfully, we aren’t highly motivated to jump right back into the process. A closer look at our finances reveals we might have needed more of miracle to survive in the new home than we did to make the purchase. Practically, we couldn’t imagine taking the time to put all our junk in the garage, in order to thoroughly assess what we want our home to look like. But it has been an enlightening process.
A few months back, I wrote about the ‘belief’ we encourage in our kids and hope for our young friends in Ethiopia. That experience is sometimes called common grace, available to every person on the planet who searches out the possibilities of the created world. But there is another grace that comes from seeking after the Creator himself. During the three weeks we managed our hectic life and added home selling and buying tasks, we experienced a heightened awareness of God’s work in our lives. Our thoughts consistently turned to him as each layer of the story unfolded. And he was near to us, especially in the waiting. The crazy pace of life was unsustainable. We could have left our house on the market and the staged furniture in place for a few more weeks to see what might happen. We could have sold our house and looked for another opportunity. But in seeking the Lord, we knew the process had come to an end. The reasons why are a a mystery and maybe will remain so. But God was doing something. He was keeping us close to him, in a unique way, for a short period of time that only intense situations can bring. The relationship God fosters with us through Jesus, brings contentment over our circumstances, especially in these times.
We long for our friends here at home and abroad to have this same relationship. The glory of wonder and imagination and discovery when we use our gifts and passions is most fulfilling when God is allowed to be intimately involved. When we open our hearts, he’ll do things like make houses available and unavailable just to get us closer to him. There is so much more that can be said – but God wanting to be near us, as a father, as a friend – is why we want more than just family well-being, good jobs, and better infrastructure for the Arsi Oromo. We desire fullness, abundance in all of life.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Colossians 1:19,20
Keep Your Eye on the Rhodes 