Exactly Right

We've been living in Longview four weeks now. Strangely, it has felt like "home" since day one. David said it today while we were walking around Lake Sacajawea (our new Sunday afternoon tradition), "This just feels right."

So what's so right about it you ask? Bear with me while I process a bit.

Where we were:
Everything was the same. Same community, same church, same house, same routine, same friends, same spouse (!), same everything. None of these are bad. In fact, I think a sense of rootedness and stability is a wonderful thing and sorely lacking in our mobile society. For us it was not that any of these things were wrong or bad, but they were extremely comfortable and comfort can make a person tend toward laziness and apathy.

Where we are:
We have felt this breath of fresh air blow though our marriage, our relationship with Jesus and our hopes and dreams for the future.

As a couple we are spending a significantly greater amount of time together; taking walks, working around the house, attending concerts and school functions. In Chehalis, I had my job and David had his and more often than not they pulled us apart rather than bringing us together. Today we had lunch with an inspiring couple from the church we attended. Bob and Mary have been married 67 years. He calls her the 8th wonder of the world. (She says he's the only one who wonders!) They were an absolute delight. If we stay on course with Bob and Mary, we have another 30 years to work on this relationship of ours. We want to be one of those inspiring and delightful couples when we are nearing 90 years old. I think this move has helped propel us in that direction.

We are learning to really listen to the whisper of the Holy Spirit again. It's easy when you have been so entrenched in the life of one church to let that involvement become your default rather than ever take any risks or move out of your comfort zone spiritually. I could have easily kept doing the same things I'd been doing. I was not unhappy. I had a wonderful church and (still have) wonderful friends, but we both feel that there is something new for us here. Our relationships in Chehalis are rich and deep and nothing will change that, but we feel that God is leading us into some new areas. We're not even sure exactly what that will look like yet - but we both sense it. Though there are still some questions about our future (like which community of believers to join), we both feel the reassuring favor of God on this move. We really feel like we are in exactly the right place.

This move has given us courage to think and hope that there are more exciting adventures in our future. Neither of us are big on change. The move was hard. But we did it and it feels exactly right and that gives me hope that there might be more ahead for us.

I want to live every single second of the life God has for me. I don't know exactly what that will look like, but I'm ready to live fearlessly into each season - come what may.