We just received an email from the owner of the house we are renting. They relocated to Chicago due to a great job opportunity. They are moving back due to a greater opportunity. They have family here and had lived in the house we are renting for many years. It will be great for them to be back home. For us it means yet another move.
Let's go back 3 years and 10 months ago. We sold our home in Ohio and moved to a temporary rental home about 25 minutes away. We knew we would be moving to South Carolina to a job my wife had been offered, however, the job wouldn't be ready for 6 more months. When the house sells, you can't ask the buyer to wait 6 months so we packed up our entire house and moved down the road. We unpacked as little as we could but made the house as comfortable as we could. Those six months were fun. We had a small house with a couple acres in a country like setting. I always wanted a flag pole and this place had one. I got the opportunity to raise and lower my fathers funeral veteran flag every morning and evening for those six months. It was a dream fulfilled.
Those six months went by quickly and soon we were packing again. It was January and the snow was two feet on the ground. I had to keep shoveling a path from the house to the truck to load, certainly not the most fun I have had. Finally it was packed. I closed the door and locked the truck and we got a great night sleep. The next day the truck wouldn't start because of the below zero termperatures. We got the company to come out and jump start the truck and off we went. We got half way through West Virginia and had to find a place to spend the night because the snow was of blizzard proportion and we couldn't see. We found a room but I was up every couple hours to run the truck engine so it would start in the morning.
Finally in South Carolina, we unpacked and set up our home. We rented this amazing house with a pool and everything you could ever want. My wife got another job offer to return to Ohio. So once again we packed and prepared to return. Funny but in the midst of all that I had a potential job lingering around right where we were. The owner of the house had already leased it to another couple and we had to continue to move but we could stay nearby.
We had a one year lease and unpacked setting up house once again. Completely settled, unpacked and decorated .....This seems like it could only be made up .... but my wife got another job offer just when the opportunity I was considering had dried up. So, yes sir, we packed up again and moved back to Ohio. We found a nice place where we live now and that is the one we were just advised we had to leave by August.
We are now searching again for another house. If you have been counting that is five complete whole house moves in 3 years and 10 months.
They say that moving is one of the most stressful things there is. I think those 5 in such a short time are pushing the limit a bit, would you agree? The total for me since graduating high school is now 25 moves. I am not a really young guy, so much of that is understandable, but I am not 100 years old either.
My point is this. When you are with someone you really deeply love, getting through those stressful times of life are not so bad. My wife and I love each other and we back each other up and get the job done. Emotionally it is sticky when you keep getting settled in and have to make another place home but you get through it. I can say that by my experience being partnered with someone who is your best friend and great love makes all those transitions pretty easy.
Love gives us strength and patience and a partner to share burdens with. Love is a powerful thing and great things happen when it is used for good. With love you are never alone. I don't know if I could have endured the thought of this future move very gracefully without the love of my wife. For us love turns life's burdens into adventures and we expect God to turn such unexpected changes into life improvements for us.
So here we go, another adventure, expecting better things. Praise God and we are thankful for His love and the love we have for each other. We should always treasure the blessing of having a great love in our lives. Sometimes the every day things make us edgy and a bit grumpy. Sometimes we take those simple little things out on each other. Maybe if we could remain conscious of how powerful and valuable our love is in "real" times of stress, those little things wouldn't seem so important. Why challenge our love over little insignificant things? Remember that same love can take us through the toughest of times. Treasure, cherish and protect that love for it is a wonderful gift from God.