[stripped down]

With more than a week under my belt in the new place, I'm really starting to fall in love with it.

When I was moving I was cranky, tired and sweaty. My iron was low (hence the 52 bruises). I had no A/C. I wasn't sleeping well. When I first moved in, I wanted to cry. The space seemed so dirty, so small, so stifling. I didn't just feel physically stifled from the heat, I felt emotionally stifled. I wanted my old apartment back.

But then I started unpacking. I got my A/C unit running. The apartment cooled off as I began to find a new home for all my odds and ends. I decorated the place, managing to hang the pieces that were the most important to me without overcrowding the walls. I was worried about that to be honest: I didn't want the walls to be completely covered but I had a handful of pieces that were extremely significant to me. 

                                                                             Source: flickr.com via Courtney on Pinterest

That's just the thing. As I settle into my new place I'm learning how much I value things. And I'm also learning just how silly that is. Because I don't need things. I don't need to hang every painting. I own far more coffee mugs than I could ever use or need. I don't need a closet overflowing with clothes or a pantry overflowing with food. 

What I have is perfect. What I have is just enough. 

And I'm glad I downsized. I'm glad I moved into this apartment with its lack of storage space. Because God is teaching me a big lesson. He's breaking my attachment to possessions everyday. I'm learning how to live with less and how to be blissful at the same time. 

                                                         Source: spiritualinspiration.tumblr.com via Courtney on Pinterest

This morning on the way into work I was reading A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God. Tozer was discussing the story of Abraham & Isaac. I stumbled across this quote and I think it sums up what God is showing me perfectly:

"The world said, 'Abraham is rich,' but the aging patriarch only smiled. He could not explain it to them, but he knew that he owned nothing, that is real treasures were inward and eternal. There can be no doubt that this possessive clinging to things is one of the most harmful habits in the life. Because it is so natural it is rarely recognized for the evil that it is; but its outworkings are tragic." 

I don't need a big pantry or a big closet. My last apartment spoiled me and I grew too attached to various things. I was so attached to them that I couldn't see how adorable and unique my new apartment was through my sense of loss. 

The truth is, I've lost nothing. I've gained so much. I sent a big box of things home with Mom. I no longer have cable. 

But I have something so much greater. I have freedom. I have time to meditate in the morning. I have more time to read, to pray, to write. I'm more active.

                                                                 Source: traceygjones.wordpress.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Most importantly, I'm more at peace. Stripping down is such a beautiful thing. We were meant to live simply. We weren't meant to spend our lives striving after more things, greedily racing towards the next purchase & filling every nook & cranny of our homes and our lives with stuff. If something is to be enthroned in our hearts, it should be God. It should never be our things. But that was exactly what had taken up residence in my heart. I didn't realize it until I had to let go of things. I wasn't a hoarder or a compulsive shopper so I thought I was fine. But I wasn't. Something had taken over my heart, something quietly insidious.