This Lent season our worship focus is Practicing Awareness.  For our family, this coincides with settling in to a new house.  There’s nothing like moving to raise your awareness.  How many boxes does it take to clean out a closet?  A garage?

When you move, just about everything calls for your
attention.  How many address change
notifications can we do today?  In which
box is the tape?  In which drawer did you
put the spatula?  Where’s my coat?  Where’s the bathroom?       

In new surroundings I feel extra aware.  I’m interested in every new corner.  How many data points a second?  Eleven million (see the sermon link below).  Not much is familiar enough yet that I’ve
stopped seeing it, letting it slip into the subconscious.

Early last week I had the welcome realization that the day
before we had likely reached peak chaos, and that our universe was slowly
starting to re-order itself around these new spaces and routines. 

My temptation is to focus lots of energy on the endless
re-ordering and not enough attention to the goodness of these days.  Throwing a softball in the backyard most
evenings, and starting to see signs of spring around the house have helped.  There will be plenty of time, years, for
re-ordering.

The warmth of friends and new neighbors takes on a deeper
quality when you need the help.  I’m
grateful for that awareness. 

Joel