I find the tiny house movement fascinating. I love viewing tours of peoples homes that you can nearly touch wall to wall. The ingenuity, craftsmanship, and charm they hold resonate deeply with me. I also find that it helps me appreciate the space that I do have.
Sixteen months after downsizing by almost half of our former square footage and some days I long for what I once had. Just like the Israelites, there are days when I am ready to cash it all in and return to the former way of life. In those moments I miss the extra space where we didn't have to eat in the kitchen. I miss having a piano. I miss having a toy room. I miss the extra wall space to hang all the baby pictures. How quickly I have forgotten that I could never get that giant house cleaned. The mortgage payment left us with no wiggle room. How the flow of the basement drove me batty. That the guest room was occupied more often by spiders in the corners than loved ones. That my garden was the size of my dining table. That we all longed for a place in the country and spent hours dreaming, and hunting for such a place.
As the weather has turned cooler, I've been gripped by fear of all of us cooped up in this small space come winter. When I shared this with a friend, she empathized, and that was just what I needed. That, and God whispering to me that I desire to have deep and meaningful relationships with our children, and how our small home fosters such an environment. He also pointed out to me that despite our 'cozy' dining situation I have a hard time keeping the table cleared, how much harder it would be if it was in a separate room?
When we first moved in, Phil was wanting to do an addition right away, I convinced him to just wait and try the house as is, maybe we'd be ok. Winter created some stir crazy moments, so when spring came we leaped at the chance to pursue the addition. We were frustrated by the lack of response by contractors and gave up. I spent hours perusing Pinterest, scheming, trying to come up with something better. All to have my heart sanded down by the Lord and learn to be content in my circumstances.
As I cried out to the Lord He reminded me of the blessings I have forgotten. The house stays cleaner, because the effort is minimal with smaller spaces. Even if the entire house gets trashed, it takes under an hour as a family to restore it to tidy peacefulness. Smaller house for us thankfully means smaller mortgage and utilities, which means we can give more. Being in the country allows us to have our own forest, a garden that practically eliminated a need to grocery shop (other than dairy products, which might change one day!). How close knit we are as a family. That I'm living our dream.
Thanks Lord for the reminder!
