Days before we move

The older two boys are swishing their hands around in the Lego bin looking for exactly the right piece that will upgrade their creation. The younger two are being read to, sung to, and prayed over by their dad upstairs. Back down here, I'm here gazing at the rain dripping outside and this white screen while Andy McKee strums on an iPhone. Perhaps a typical summer evening for our family, except for what's not yet mentioned - the stacks of boxes everywhere that we smell the cardboard of, stub our toes on the edges of, and keep filling as we walk by. 

We've moved so many times. But now here we are days away from moving once more. Perhaps not the last time - Lord knows. It's coming though. The move. It's coming. Amidst everything going on in the world, people are still moving. Still packing up their belongings, trying to purge some of their previous life, while serving daily needs and looking to the future life that will come in the new place. We are those people. On the continuum and on the move...

In the fury, there is a small desperation to take an exit emotionally. Just to shut down for the transition time and resurrect after the upheaval has subsided. But I'm a mom, a parent of four boys who we've been prepping for this move. These past few weeks as the boxes appeared and perhaps stress has begun to seep into our interactions, they've noticed and have themselves been struggling with the range of emotions. So I can't make an exit. Quite the opposite - I have to lead. I have to, well, parent. Parent through the transition that I find so difficult myself. 

And here's where I admit I don't know how, but I can ask my Jesus. Seems silly maybe to ask how to parent through something like a move when the world is dealing with so much. But I can't change the world. My kids are right in front of me. They are my world right now. What will they see in me during this upheaval in their life? I want them to see me abiding in the love of the Lord! John 15 Jesus instructs his disciples to abide in him, in his love. Yes, this was for a purpose different from moving - Jesus was about to go to the cross and leave them. But the message is written to us too. We are called, as believers in Jesus, to abide. To abide is to be in Christ. Could I perhaps bear fruit during this move? Could I show them how to dwell with Jesus even as our dwelling moves? Let me be bold even in the little things to ask of our Father in Jesus' name to abide for his glory and our joy. 

Now the music is off and the dishwasher swirls and hums. Younger boys sleep and older chill with their dad on the couch. Better join them!