After 3 years of apartment living, it’s time to “take the next step.” I’m thrilled, because I’m rapidly tiring of being sandwiched between multiple dwellings, with only thin walls to separate us. We’ve been really fortunate to not have much trouble with our neighbors, but they change so often that at some point we were bound to have a really terrible experience. The ones who moved in below us a few months ago are well on their way to fitting the bill. Suffice it to say, we are more than ready for our own space.
I find it extremely comical that privacy and comfort come at the price of, well, everything else. Yard maintenance, utilities, broken windows, missing doorknobs, cracked tile, and really bad paint jobs. We must be out of our minds. The American dream is to go into debt up to our eyeballs and not pull ourselves back out until we’re 52 years old. And that’s only if we don’t garner any other sort of debt over the years.
It really does feel like we are about to sign our lives away.
But along with all that headache comes a thrilling sense of freedom and potential. While we won’t have monetary ownership for quite some time, we’re gaining new liberties, new possibilities, new challenges that we don’t have in our current residence.
I feel like I’m being handed an enormous blank canvas and being told, “have at it!” There’s something very exciting about being able to express myself artistically through decorating, and I’ve never really been able to unleash that energy in any place I’ve lived.
Money is certainly a big factor, but that’s life – waiting and saving. I think if you want something bad enough, you will do what is required to earn it. And there is great satisfaction (and great learning) in working hard at something and being able to enjoy not only the result, but more importantly, the process.
See, it’s really not about the house. It’s about the challenges, the lessons, and the growth. It’s about letting God teach you, and shape you, and show you what He can accomplish with the gifts He has given you. I constantly remind myself that owning a house won’t make me happy, and making it look pretty won’t make me happy. God is the only source of true satisfaction, and buying a house might just be one of the things that generate opportunities to get to know Him better. In that case, I’ll take it.
So, not be presumptuous, but if God is leading us in the direction it appears He is… here is our new opportunity.
