Tiny
I am in love with tiny houses. Adorable, efficient, beautiful and of course tiny, these little dwellings are part of a movement in which people are making the intentional choice to live in a smaller space.
Big is not always better, and more and more people are beginning to realize it is possible to experience more of life while owning less.
Those of you who have followed our story over the past several years know we have sold our home, lived in an RV, moved to an apartment, and now call a small 400 square foot space home for most of the year. When we sold our home we had not heard of “tiny houses.” We only knew there had to be more to life than owning stuff.
Sometimes. Honestly, I miss my house. There. I said it. Not the stuff, but the house and all of the memories which we built there. But, my kids are grown, they are building their own lives and we are continuing to build ours. We are making new memories and opening up opportunities for our future!
Each move has eliminated more stuff and we celebrate greater freedom as each box of unneeded items are dropped off at our local Goodwill. There has been little I regret giving away or selling, finding instead what we have is likely still more than we need.
I would like to say we were incredibly intentional about our decision to sell, downsize and move. We weren’t. There are many parts of it I would do differently if I had the chance. But, we did it and except for a few moments here and there we have loved our choice to free up time, space and money by downsizing our life.
Reflecting back over the past few years since we sold the place we called home, I am often reminded to hold close that which matters more than life itself.
- Family– Our kids, parents, spouses, siblings- gifts all of them, but so easily taken for granted.
- Friends– Where would we be without friendships.? Me, I would be a mess, a pile of ugliness without friends. I would not know how to breathe without them. Completely not exaggerating here.
- Faith– Peace, comfort, strength, and grace when we stumble and fall. Yes, I unabashedly need God every day. He sustains and pours great love into me moment by moment.
More times than I am comfortable admitting, while well-intentioned, I have not always kept the top three the main thing. I struggle with busyness, divided attention, being distracted and just plain, simple neglect of these treasures.
Please, someone, tell me I am not the only wife, mom, friend and lover of Jesus who forgets to pray, tell my Hubs I love him, and neglect the birthday of a special friend?
How do we keep the main thing the main thing? How do YOU keep the main things front and center in your life? If you have wrapped your arms and heart around a way to stay focused on what matters most, please do share!
Blessings my friends- you are a gift to me and the reason my words squeeze out through my fingers each week!
If you long to live a less cluttered – you can join us here, I will send you a bit of love and a lovely (if I can say so myself) gift for doing so.
I wish I could downsize, but I have to learn to be content with my family sized home. For now. The important thing is to spend time with my husband, who has been quite ill this year. He is better now. And i have withdrawn from some of the activities I was involved (word weavers, choir, scrapbooking weekends, etc.), with in favor of caring for him. That is a sort of downsizing.
Focusing on what matters most is more of an inside job in my opinion that an outside one. By choosing to embrace the place and season you and your hubby find yourself in.. this too is a great and wonderful thing!
(so glad hubby is doing better )
Blessings!
Thanks for this, Nancy. We are loving it, too, but there is still SO much stuff to deal with. Current struggle is finding time to start digging into the storage unit once again and getting rid of more stuff!!!
Kaye- we have no storage unit.. just a few things at mom’s… mostly belonging to my son who is away at grad school, so we are still the keeper of his childhood treasures. It is amazing though- how much “stuff” we think we need- keep at it- one box at a time.
I find I have had to ask myself do I LOVE this thing… or not. If it is not a big yes- then it shifts to the side and very likely in the give away box. I have to be in the right space to part with things… if not I come back another day! Keep at it- I love your travel posts by the way… lovely.
Watching you downsize over the past few years has been inspirational for me. I’ve cleaned out many closets and drawers, but still have WAY to much stuff. Thank you for this post to light a fire under me again to keep going!
And I’m with you on the friends and so glad you’re one of MINE! 🙂
And you my friend are one of those who keeps me breathing ! Thankful.
I think the thing that will determine how my day will go is if I prioritize who I spend time with. And if I spend it talking to the one who sees every detail of my life, then he can order my steps, who I talk to, every bit. Hunger for God is different than other hunger though. If we don’t eat we become hungry, but with God you need to go to him to develop a hunger for him. Staying away makes it easier to stay away. Loved your post, my friend. Love your heart.
Anne… going to God develops a greater hunger for Him… these words are drawing me into more of Abba today. I need Him. He truly is the one who knits all the many threads of our days together. I pray to be hungry today.
Blessings
Thank you Nancy. My life has become reactionary. Your words are encouraging. In-tension-al, ahem, intentional. Got it. I’ll work on it.
Jerry- blessings as you keep focus on what matters… 🙂