Leaving

It is always a bittersweet feeling to pack up your things and move to a new place. Even when I'm going somewhere good, somewhere fun and exciting, it is hard to leave. In order to move on, grow up, go forward, we must leave some things behind. We cannot pick everything up and take it with us--the old life doesn't fit inside the new. We must leave the good and the bad behind in order to find something different.
Or else we never move, never change.
Moving is a time for purging. Get rid of all those clothes you don't wear anymore, the tools or toys you haven't touched for over a year. I haven't wanted these things, sometimes I even forgot I had them. Yet when I sit there, ready to put them in a box and send them away, my hand hesitates. Some part of me wants to keep it, to hold on to the memory it carries. Leaving things behind, even things that need to be left, isn't always easy.
Getting new things is fun. Christmas is every child's favorite holiday. Yet in order to make room for the new, we must abandon the old.
As I pack up bags and boxes of things, and throw half of it away, I can't help but wonder how much extra baggage I have in life. What ideas, dreams, hopes am I holding onto that need to be let go? What new skills, talents, experiences am I missing out on because I can't let go of what I have?
Dr. Who, an immortal alien from a BBC sci-fi show, says it best. Everything has its time, everything dies.
Jesus said, a seed must die before it can grow.
Moving means leaving. Beginning something new means putting an end to something else.
We have to die to live.
So as I pack up and get ready to move my many, many things, I also leave some good things behind. A lovely house, good neighbors and friends I have made here. But I say goodbye with a smile, because I'm moving on to something new. We're always leaving, becasue we're always moving.